Ancient Awakening
by pedokiwi
Summary: After Natsu returns from his 5 year disappearance, the members of Fairy Tail find themselves on yet another adventure, facing their past foes and an ancient power. NaLu eventually. Rated M for later Chapters
1. Chapter 1

**Before the Story begins, this is my first ever written story, so don't be too harsh. lol! Some of the story follows the Fairy Tail time line, then goes off into a totally different direction, so Spoilers ahead if you aren't caught up in the series. Enjoy!**

It has been 5 years since the last sighting of Zeref; since the Fairy Tail guild narrowly escaped tragic means to an end. Having been too familiar with almost meeting certain death, Natsu disappeared. The other guild members haven't seen him since they all made it back to the guild hall 5 years ago bruised, beaten and bloodied. A solemn silence fell over the hall, as most of the members attempted to drink away the horrors they witnessed and the friends they almost lost. For Lucy and Natsu, the horrors ignited untouched feelings for each other, and was precisely the reason Natsu left. Every time Lucy closes her eyes before falling asleep at night, she's haunted with the last moments she spent with Natsu and Happy;

 _Another fight had broken out in the guild hall after everyone stopped stirring in their drunken sadness; Guildarts knew the guild needed lightening up, so he threw his drink in Natsu's face, blaming the incident on Gray. This sparked the initial fight between the two enemies, and in their heated, alcohol induced rampage, they knocked Erza's strawberry cake on the ground; The moment she entered the fight, more guild members joined in, and on the sidelines, a smile broke across Lucy's face; the morale was back._

 _Natsu heard her laugh, and looked over to see that shining smile. His stomach dropped suddenly as he remembered how he almost lost her. He ducked out of the scrap, and headed slowly to the doors of the Guild._

 _Levy was the one to point out to Lucy that Natsu had left the fight, and Lucy looked over just in time to see Happy flying out the door, close behind Natsu. She found herself walking quickly, then running towards the doors of the hall, and called out to Natsu as he was half way down the road leading from the hall._

 _He turned back towards her, explaining how he was never going to let Zeref hurt his friends and the ones he cared about so much. He needed to train more, until he felt he could avenge the grief he felt he put his friends through. And with that toothy grin of his that always melted Lucy's heart, he promised he'd return the day he discovered the depths of his magic. And with a final hug, he turned and walked away, looking back to give her one last final glance."_

Lucy woke up suddenly. It was 3:30am and she heard a fierce woosh outside her window. She had left the window unlocked for the last 5 years for that fateful day he returned. Surprisingly, no one had attempted to break in. It had been so long since Natsu left that Lucy thought she was actually being robbed tonight. She grabbed for her keys, and just as she went to call on taurus, she caught a pair of wings in her peripheral vision. She turned around and smashed her face into a firm wall; she fell backwards, rubbing her nose, she looked up and saw Natsu standing over her.

" Hi Luce! You know you shouldn't leave your windows unlocked; there's creepy people out there. Good thing I noticed"

" The only creepy people I know happen to be standing infront of me now" as she rubbed her eyes. She looked up at him and noticed a bandage around his arm and torso. She wondered what adventure brought that injury upon him.

Natsu seemed to notice her concerned stares and quickly covered himself up with his ripped cape. He walked over to her bed, and fell on it face first. " ah the fluffy cloud to take me to dreamland" he instantly passed out, leaving Lucy without a place to sleep. Of course he had to plump down on her bed in the most awkward way that left her no space to sleep. He started snoring, Happy flew by her and tiredly said " Nice to see you again Lucy, its been too long" before curling up beside Natsu, ensuring Lucy absolutely had no where to sleep.

Lucy ended up falling asleep on the floor, not wanting to disturb the sleeping friends. Natsu woke up first, stretching out his arms and rubbing his eyes, realizing where he was. The scent of Lucy's place always made him feel warm inside; this was home to him. He looked down and saw Lucy sleeping on the floor. She was making soft cooing noises in her sleep. God he had missed her so much, he thought to himself. She looked absolutely angelic in her sleep. It took everything in him to not cuddle up next to her and kiss her.

She opened her eyes, all glassy from returning from dreamland. She sat up quickly. " I thought I had dreamed you two had come back! We need to go to the guild hall and say hi to everyone!" A strong masculine scent hit her nostrils with an intensity. " Maybe you should freshen up before that though..." Natsu laughed as Lucy got up to get him a towel. Despite his objections, she pushed him into the shower. The heat felt refreshing on his tired, aching body. After showering, Natsu's appetite hit him like a ton of bricks. " My stomach is eating itself. I need food" he said painfully. " Well hurry up and lets get a move on to the guild! Mira will make you something extra special Im sure!" Lucy said with her smile. She grabbed his hand and pulled him out the door with Happy close behind. Happy Smiled, saying to himself " It's as if five years had never passed; nothing has changed between them"

 ****** At Fairy Tail *****

" IM BACK " Natsu said outloud as he kicked in the front doors. He was welcomed by most; Gray made some smart comment, which started a brawl, like old times. Lucy was pretty sure she heard " Flame brain" and " Ice princess" thrown around, which just added more intensity to their match. Erza laughed, her eyes brightened more than Lucy could have imagined, especially with cake infront of her. Gajeel was soon to join the fight, as was Elfman and other members.

As the fight came to a climax, Master Makarov entered. " ENOUGH" he yelled. Everyone stopped and looked toward him. " Welcome home Natsu, I hope your training was challenging" Natsu nodded his head. The master headed for the bar, his drinking habit soon to come back with Natsu's return.

After Natsu loaded up 3 plates with what Mira made him, he took his seat, instantly flooded with questions from Erza, Gray, Gajeel, Lily and the others about his training. After trying to keep his new found magic vague, they managed to pull out from him that he mastered 5 new secret abilities before his connection with the spirit of Igneel just stopped. Natsu crossed his arms " It's weird how for five years, the connection through meditation was very fluent; like a very strong current in a river, then the next day its as if I hit a dam. For months I tried everything I could to re connect, but nothing worked. I just figured my training was done, so I came back" he said, looking over to Lucy. Erza caught his look, wanting to pry, but instead she smiled to herself. " We're happy to have you back!" She said.

Lucy left the table, she could catch up with Natsu later. RIght now she really needed work as rent was coming up soon and her money was running low. She waltzed over to the request board, and looked at the jobs. Natsu saw her, and said over to her " Hey, you found work for us?!" Lucy stumbled out " Oh... ugh I thought I'd do this one on my own. You're probably tired still from returning" she smiled. " Nonsense" Natsu stated " We are a team, time to go on a job together. For old time sake!" he smiled at her. Lucy Blushed. She quickly turned around and read the jobs. She decided on something easy. " How about an escort job? Just to help guard and protect a valuable item. The escort will only take 3 days" " Sounds like a walk in the park" Natsu said confidently. " Well if the team is getting back together, I'll come too" Said Erza. Gray sighed " Well I guess I'm in too"

" Wow! the reward is a million Jewel, and all our needs are included" Lucy exclaimed. Gray spoke up " I bet it's something very special. I wonder who would try to steal it?" " I don't care, they can come at me! Im all fired up for the unlimited food" Natsu leaned back, stratching his head with that toothy smile. "Gray is right Natsu, we need to be alert at all times. Just because we are mages doesnt mean we should get cocky" Erza interjected.

Lucy walked over to the bar just as it seemed Natsu and Gray were going to get into another fight. Mira smiled, " I already let them know you're taking the job." Lucy smiled. " They are expecting you there tomorrow morning, at 8:00am" " Alright! Im all fired up, lets go pack!" Natsu said as he grabbed Lucy by the wrist " The team is back in action!"

* * *

"You're 30 minutes late!" one of the guards exclaimed as the wizards arrived at the estate.

" Well we wouldnt have been late if flame brain over here didnt turn into a raging puke pansey every time we take the god damn train!" Gray stated

" If you have something to say to me ice dick, say it to my face!" Natsu yelled, getting right up into Gray's personal space.

" That's ENOUGH!" Erza said, grabbing the boys by the scruf of their shirts.

 _Maybe if someone didnt pack 80 bags of luggage, we'd actually be one time for once,_ Lucy thought. She didnt dare say it out loud, even under her breath as Natsu would rat her out as quickly as she said it, and dealing with Erza Scarlet is a painful lesson Lucy didn't need to learn again

"This way to the carriage" the guard said passive aggressively. " The master of this property doesnt take well to those who are late"

The Fairy Tail team followed the guard to the back of the estate, where a very poor looking carriage awaited them. Even the horses looked old and sickly.

" Hello!" said an elderly man, " About time you show your faces. I was worried the Fairy Tail guild were a bunch of no shows"

" We apologize for our tardiness" Erza explained " But _some of us_ cant handle a 40 minute train ride"

" What's done is done. We just need to move on" said the old man, cutting Erza off

" So how do you want to do this?" Gray inquired

" We need 3 of you on horse back, and one of you inside the carriage with my Master, Mr. Star." said the guard. " I will be driving the carriage."

It was decided that Natsu, Erza and Gray would ride the horses, as Lucy's choice in tight clothing made it difficult to ride a horse. As Lucy stepped into the carriage, she couldnt believe how extravigent the inside was. She climbed back out just to do a double take at how crappy the outside looked.

" I didnt run out of money you know; the outside of this was actually the most expensive. I had to pay a powerful wizard to put a charm over the carriage to make it look like a poor man's carriage as to not give any robbers any ideas about stealing from us." Mr. Star said.

" I just cant believe the magic that went into this; the inside looks four times larger than what the outside size looks like." Lucy said in disbelief

" Well, I do like to ride in ultimate comfortability." Smiled Mr. Star.

* * *

After everyone was settled into their positions, they left on their 3 day escort mission. 6 hours in Natsu complained about being hungry, to which Lucy responded by throwing muffins out the carriage window. Happy happily flew them over to a winey Natsu, who felt much better after consuming about 30 muffins.

" It's embarassing how much you eat, flamer" Gray coldly said

" When you're made of fire, you burn through food, Icer " Natsu said, with his mouth still full of muffins.

Erza was scouting the skies and forest that gave little passage for the carriage to travel on. It was quiet and actually quite peaceful. She closed her eyes and let herself feel the warmth of the sun on her face. At that moment, she forced her eyes open as she heard the faint sound of a bow string snap. An arrow flew past her face, almost hitting it's traget.

" GUYS! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK" Erza yelled. She immediately requipt her goddess's bow and arrow, while Natsu and Gray took off towards the direction the arrow came from.

" Im fired up!" Natsu laughed manically as he speed off into the woods.

Erza galloped up to the carriage, " Lucy, we are under attack; take off with the carriage with all haste. Protect Mr. Star at all costs, We are going to catch those who fired at us!"

Lucy stuck her head out the window to let Erza know she heard her, but an arrow flew by her head, cutting her cheek.

"Shit!" Lucy hissed. " Okay Erza!" she yelled out the window

The carriage took off, and Lucy called upon her Celestial Spirit Loki to help her protect her employer and his treasure.

* * *

An hour later of running full speed, the carriage slowed. " We appear to be safe" the guard shouted back to Lucy.

" Alright Lucy, Im headed back to the spirit world. Call me if you need anymore assistance" Loki said before vanishing.

" Thank you" said Lucy. " So what's in this treasure chest anyway?"

Mr. Star's face turned serious. " A weapon of great secret power. Which is exactly why I need to get this to my old wizard friend, so he can destroy it. It has been hidden for over 400 years. Luckily for us, only those who share it's maker's blood line can wield it. Unfortunately, as great dark guilds flood Fiore, I'm worried that the maker's seal will be broken, and anyone could harness this for choas and mass destruction."

" Why was it created in the first place?!" Lucy inquired.

" Over 400 years ago, when great wars waged between Dragons and Humans, this weapon was created to show it's wielder great dragon slayer powers and secrets to bring peace to the realm. But it was stolen before the maker of this weapon could use it for good. The dark wizard who stole it didnt know how to utlize the weapon, fortunately. The Maker took an army to find the weapon, befriending certain dragons along the way who were interested in having peace; Grandine, Metalicana, Weisslogia, Skiadrum and the king of the dragons, Igneel Dragnet and others. However in the time it took them to find the dark wizard, he figured out how to use the weapon; many lives were taken during the mission to take back the weapon, humans and dragons alike. The maker managed to get the weapon back, realizing that the dark wizard only knew how to wield it with very basic power the weapon is actually capable of. Before the maker died on the field, he poured his soul into creating a wielder's seal on the weapon, so that only his blood and magic line could use the weapon, and be shown the deep secrets of Dragon slayer magic."

" So who was the Maker? and who was the Dark Wizard?" Lucy asked, as she was very invested in the tale.

" No one knows who either were. The Maker is said to be someone who fell from the stars, and walked Earthland trying to make peace. The Dark Wizard is said to be a lost relative of Zeref's, but like I said, no one knows for certain. It's curious though, how Zeref created such Demons he claims so they can destroy him, but deep down, something tells me it's not for that, but for destroying the seal on this weapon." The old man said, looking out the carriage worried.

" So how did you come across this weapon if it was lost? Are you a decendent of the Maker?!"

" No, I spent a life time trying to find it. It took 80 years of searching, but I regret the day I found it. Not only can I not even hold it without it burning me, but dark forces have been tracking me since. It's as if the weapon lay dormat for so many years and when I found it, it woke up, triggering a very dark response"

" Where did you find it?"

" Curiously, all the clues lead me where FACE was to be initiated 5 years ago. And I found it right in the spot Igneel Dragneel was killed."

Lucy's eyes widened. _maybe Nastu is the wielder._ She thought. She shuttered at the thought as he definitely did not need any more super powers; he was scary as is and he would absolutely destroy Gray while at the same time challenging Erza and Laxus for a final battle. _Ugh._

The carriage stopped suddenly as Mr. Star finished his story. Lucy looked out the window to ask why they had stopped. She then heard Gasps and choking. She ran out of the carriage to her horror and saw that the guard was pale, clawing at his own throat. His eyes were bulging out of his head, blood running out of his ears and nose. She screamed as his head exploded, blood and brain painting the carriage.

She looked away and saw a man dressed in a black hooded cape.

He smiled. It had been five years since he had seen anyone from Fairy Tail. He removed his hood, revealing his face to Lucy.

Lucy felt as if someone dropped a ton of bricks in her stomach. She began to fill with rage as she recognized it was no other than Zeref himself.

" Why has five years flown by" He laughed coldly

" Dont you have some lower demons to do your sick bidding for you?" Lucy spat out

" I did, but we saw how that all turned out. You Fairy Tail bunch have something I cannot give my demons; deep routed friendship that somehow always defeats even my most horrific demons. I decided if I wanted something done, I better do it myself." Zeref said sharply.

" Well be prepared to fail hideously once again bastard. Any minute, my friends will return, and we will destroy you once and for all" Lucy hissed.

" What's all the commotion out there?" Mr. Star jumped out of the cart. His eyes widened. " You!"

" Yes. Don't look surprised old man. I've been hunting you for the last 80 years, and this time that weapon is mine. " Zeref looked hard at the old man.

" Lucy, get in the carriage, it's time I teach this young man a lesson" Mr. Star said. " I may be old, but theres some magic tricks I haven't forgotten"

As Lucy started walking towards to carriage she heard in her head _I will fall. My magic cannot stand against him. You need to take that chest and get as far away from here as you can. If I survive, I will find you; if I dont make it, my wizard friend will_

With that, Lucy ran with the chest as Mr. Star and Zeref engaged in a massive magic battle.

* * *

In the distance, the figures Natsu, Gray and Erza were pursuing suddenly disappeared. " Look!" Gray Exclaimed as the others turned towards were he was pointing. " These assholes must have been a distraction so that the real robbers could snatch the treasure!" Erza said, feeling disappointed in herself for falling for such an easy decoy.

"Lucy!" Natsu exclaimed. He started towards the magic fight on his horse. _If anything happens to her I'll kill the bastard responsible!_ he thought to himself. They all made towards the intense magic battle.

* * *

Lucy clutched the chest in both arms and ran as fast as she could. _It will be so easy for Zeref to find me_ she thought. " Open Gate of the Virgin, VIRGO" she commanded.

" Yes Princess?" Virgo said

" I need you to dig a tunnel somewhere far form here, and cover the ground behind us as we travel. Zeref needs to lose my magical trace."

" As you wish princess" Virgo said as she started to dig.

They travelled underground, the tunnel collasping behind them as they moved quickly.

* * *

Erza bent over look at what remained of Mr. Star while Natsu and Gray continued digging a grave for him and the guard.

" What sick fuck did this? And where is Lucy?!" Gray asked.

" I dont know, but we are wasting our time digging this stupid grave when one of friends is out there being chased by who fucking knows!" Natsu angerly exclaimed.

" We have a duty to burry these men; they were both murdered in horrific ways and deserve respect" Erza hissed at Natsu. " One of them doesnt even have a head, and poor Mr. Star was burnt alive by dark flames" Erza continued. " Lucy is a fine mage; I'm sure she can hold off for a while"

Natsu sniffed the air. This scent. It was familiar, but Natsu couldnt put his brain on who it reminded him of.

When they finished, they began looking for Lucy. Natsu caught her scent, but 20 minutes later, her scent stopped.

" That's weird" Natsu started, " Her scent disappears into the ground"

"Maybe she fell?" Gray wondered out loud

"You're an idiot Ice Dick, I said her scent disappears INTO the ground not onto the ground dumbass" Natsu spat at Gray

" Virgo" Erza said. " They escaped underground to avoid getting captured. I told you she was smart enough to get away. Can you pick up her scent underground Natsu?"

" Its very faint, but I'll try" He was determined to find her. He spent five agnozing years away from her, and to lose her now would be devistating.

"Well hop to it Dragon Breath" Gray hissed at Natsu.

The three guild mates began to follow Natsu tracking Lucy. He hoped they found her safe and sound. Without him there, how did she expect to stay warm? It was beginning to get dark afterall.

* * *

"Princess my magic gate in going to close soon, shall we surface or will you punish me for not being more useful" Virgo asked

" Stop being such a weirdo. Im not going to punish you. But I guess we should surface. Where are we anyway?" Lucy said

" Im not sure, but if my instincts are correct, we are pretty close to the Sabetooth Guild hall" Virgo said. " If that is all, I shall go now princess"

"Thanks Virgo" Lucy said.

It was relieving for Lucy to be close to Sabertooth as Sting and Rogue were allies of Fairy Tail so she was almost safe. But it was cold in the forest. She went to grab wood to start a fire.

As she was looking for scrap wood in the dim light of dusk, a smile slowly came across her face as she thought of Natsu.

" _I wonder if he is worried about me right now. When he came back after five years, it felt like no time had passed between us, at least for me. But realistically, those feelings probably faded away a long time ago for him."_

 _She would never forget the moment Zeref's demons almost killed her five years ago. The guild was falling, everyone had spend their last energy fighting and they were hopelessly losing. It was a matter of time before Lucy gave in to the sweet release of death before Natsu with his last remaining strength, blasted the Demon Jackal away, burning him. Jackal retreated back to find Mard Geers, and Natsu held Lucy. Staring into eachother's eyes, Natsu said softly " Luce, come back to me; You're my best friend and team mate. I cannot go on without you" He stroked her face. She opened her eyes when she felt tear drops on her face. " Natsu?" She asked weakly. He smiled down at her and kissed her forehead._

 _" I love you Luce" He said before she passed out_

 _There were loud roars and crashes in the distance that caught Natsu's attention. " I'll look after her" Gray said. " Go"_

 _Natsu ran out to the battle field between Acnologia and Igneel and he made it just in time to witness both dragon's ripping eachother apart. However, Acnologia was stronger, and murdered Igneel._

 _Igneel fell from the sky, Acnologia landing the final blow before disappearing into the night. Natsu screamed, falling to his knees. "Dad" he cried._

 _Natsu promised him that he would work to get stronger to defeat Acnologia and Zeref and his Demons. Igneel came into his head, " When you are ready to begin, come find me"_

 _Lucy would never forget the day he left; watching him walk out of Fairy Tail was the hardest thing she's ever had to bare. Five years went by so slow, and every day she worried she would forget what he looked like_

" I wish Natsu was here" Lucy thought as she rubbed sticks together to create fire. After 15 minutes of rubbing, she finally created a spark and got her fire going to keep her warm.

Before she fell asleep she thought how Natsu's fires were way better, and how she wished he was there to keep her safe and toasty.

* * *

Natsu stopped in his tracks and looked West. " Fire! I could use a snack right now!" he said, taking off towards the smell of freshly burned embers

Erza looked at Gray " I guess it's time for a break" she smiled.

When they approached the smell, Natsu, Erza and Gray stopped in their tracks. There was Lucy, all curled up by the fire. She looked so peaceful when she slept.

" Such an angelic face" the group heard from the surrounding darkness.

"Who's there?! Show yourself!" Erza demanded.

Out from the shadows stepped a cloaked figure.

"Natsu, its been too long since our last encounter"

" Zeref.." Natsu growled

Zeref walked over to Lucy and crouched down beside her. He swept a piece of hair off her face " Im genuinely upset that I'm going to have to kill this one. She's pretty" He smirked.

" Don't you fucking touch her" Natsu hissed at Zeref.

Zeref smiled an evil grin at Natsu. " If you hold her life so dear, you can pick up her deposed body at my new guildhall, Blood Shadow. I just needed a stupid human soul to cast away the wielder's seal on this weapon and I can unleash hell once again on this pitiful excuse for a world and create my own."

"Ta-Ta Natsu and friends; Im sure we will meet again knowing your annoying guild." and with a snap of his fingers Zeref disappeared with Lucy and the chest in a puff of black smoke.

" FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKK" Natsu screamed.

"Natsu, dont lose your head, we need to think our next action through" Erza said.

" Oh I know what my next action will be; IM going to storm this bastard's guild hall, Blood Shadow, and set all those fuckers on fire until they scream for mercy, then crank up the heat even more" Natsu hissed.

Gray could see the heat lines coming off Natsu; it made him feel very uneasy.

" We are close to Sabertooth; lets go there and ask for their help. After we meet up there, we will gather all intell on this new dark guild, send a message to Fairy Tail for back up, and save Lucy as soon as we can." Erza stated

" Natsu we have to play it smart; Zeref always seems to be one step ahead of us." Gray said calmly.

Natsu piped down. " What the hell is this weapon anyway? I just thought it was a geezer's old family jewels" Natsu wondered out loud.

" I dont know, but I dont like the sounds of it. Especially if a wielder's seal is cast on it, I can only assume it's a very dangerous magic weapon" Ezra said.

" Alright, lets make all haste and get to Sabertooth. Happy you fly ahead and let them know we are coming and why" Natsu said.

" Aye sir!" Happy said before flying off into the night.

 _Hang in there Lucy; we are coming_ Natsu thought.


	2. Chapter 2

**Here is Chapter 2! I also failed to mention in the first chapter, I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL!**

 **Enjoy~**

 ***** at Blood Shadow****

Lucy woke up to being poked through the bars of the cell she was thrown into. When her finally took focus, the first thing she saw was Zeref. Her head was still hazy from what happened; it felt like someone had hit her over the head with a baseball bat.

" Finally she awakes" Zeref said in an eerily soft tone.

" Where am I? How did I get here?" Lucy asked, rubbing her head.

" I almost took you for a smart girl, Lucy. Using your Celestial Spirit to take you underground was a very creative idea. It took me longer than I liked to be able to track you. But your biggest mistake was making that fire. I was a bit frightened I would never locate you, until I smelt burning ember. When I found you, you were all curled up sleeping, so naturally, I used my magic to transport you here with the chest."

Lucy looked at the ground. She was embarrassed at how pathetic her survival skills were. If only Erza were there, she'd have told her not to make a fire.

Zeref started to walk away.

" Wait! Where are my friends?! What did you do to them?"

" Lucky for you, I never encountered them. However those annoying pests are probably still looking for you in the forest. Shame they won't know where to come to your rescue." Zeref lied.

Lucy was relieved to hear he never encountered his friends. But he was right, they don't know where to find her, and even though Natsu's nose is ridiculously strong, he wouldn't be able to locate her here. She sat up, bringing her knees into her chest. She didn't want Zeref to see her tears.

" Well, what do you need me for? You got your precious treasure, why take me too?" Lucy asked, slightly scared of what the answer may be.

" Finally, a good question. I need to break the seal on the weapon so I can utilise it and destroy this world; wipe it clean to start a new world in my own vision. In order to do that, I need to sacrifice a soul to weaken the seal. As you may re call, the Maker put his soul into the weapon to create the seal; I need to take one to break it."

" Why not just use one of your freaky demons. I saw you destroy one with the wave of your hand." Lucy managed to shake out.

" Because, my dear girl, demons have no souls. And as much as my new Guild has increased in human numbers, I'll need as many followers when I destroy this world to populate my new one. The situation was just too perfect I stumbled upon. The weapon and a stupid human girl _sleeping_." Zeref stared at Lucy; she felt a cold shiver up her spine.

" In 4 days time I will sacrifice you to unleash hell upon this land" Zeref laughed as her swung her pouch with her keys around. " I guess you won't be needing these anymore; I'll hold onto them for you. Who knows, maybe I'll make contracts with your pathetic spirits after your gone." Zeref then exited the cell.

Lucy was alone now. _Four days time? That happens to be the day of the Summer Solitice; the strongest day for a celestial wizard. Maybe I could muster up enough power to break out, steal my keys and get as far away from here as possible. For once I need to save myself. I need to warn the everyone about the impending doom upon us all._ Lucy thought. _But for right now all I can do is think of a plan._

She drifted off to sleep on the cold floor, a slight smile crossing her face as she thought of Natsu…

* * *

Natsu and the others finally made it to Sabertooth. When they arrived, Sting and Rogue were waiting for them, along with the rest of the guild.

" We sent Happy back to Fairy Tail to gather more back up." Sting began. " We also sent out our newest recruits to find out more info about this new guild, Blood Shadow, and hopefully, we can locate them to save your friend."

" Thank you for your assistance. But our priorities right now involve figuring out how we will infiltrate the guild. Zeref is clever; we need a strong strategic plan to defeat him and save Lucy" Erza said.

" Its almost impossible for us to do that until we have more information on the guild's lay out. Without a map or location, we cannot possibly start to conceive a plan of attack" Rogue started

" I don't care about plans or lay outs; our friend is in there and we absolutely need to rescue her. Zeref is going to _Murder_ Lucy." Natsu interjected, aggressively. Gray could still see the heat lines coming off Natsu again. Earlier, Gray never bothered to care, but Natsu seems stronger and edgier than usual, and that made Gray very uneasy deep down. " Hey Natsu…. we cannot do anything right now without risking the lives of everyone here, we need to be patient and wait for back up and a plan" Gray said.

The heat lines coming off Natsu stopped. " Well then, I'm going to see what I can find out. I can't just sit around here and do nothing" Natsu said coldly and he left the hall.

Natsu wondered around the city, alone with his thoughts. Five years had gone by so quickly and every day he thought of Lucy. She didn't know, but she was his motivation to train harder and when he felt like giving up, the image of her almost dying forced him to focus even more. He allowed his feelings for her to create some very powerful and terrifying spells and secret skills.

Natsu clenched his fists even harder. He closed his eyes, allowing his dragon like hearing to try to locate any conversation pertaining to Blood Shadow.

… _.four days time. He finally possesses the weapon. He is calling all of us to meet at the guild hall to witness the destruction of this world with the new power he will release….._

 _Found you_ Natsu thought. He located the voice at a shady bar on the other side of town. When he entered, he saw a group of 6 men sitting together, all dressed in black and to anyone normal, looked terrifying.

 _Bingo_. Natsu smiled. He took a seat over at another table, watching the group intensely. He ordered a flaming whiskey and eavesdropped on their conversation. It wasn't long before some of the members took notice of Natsu's intense gaze, and the leader of the group decided to confront him.

" Hey asshole, what are you staring at? Never seen a dark guild before?"

Natsu locked eyes with the leader and finished the rest his whiskey.

" What? Can't speak in the presence of awesomeness?" the leader snickered.

Natsu put his drink down. Heat lines steamed off his body. The leader could feel his heat, as well as the other members sitting on the other side of the bar.

The leader continued walking over towards Natsu. He cast a dark offensive spell, which knocked Natsu out of his chair and onto the ground.

" Didn't you mom ever tell you it's rude to stare asshole?" the leader laughed at him. " Take this fool out back, and lets show him how _hospitable_ we are of outsiders in our bar"

Two members grabbed Natsu by the arms and dragged him outside. But underneath the pink locks of hair that covered his face, Natsu was smiling. They threw him on the ground, Natsu still pretending to be limp from the leaders pathetic attack on him earlier. The group of 6 surrounded Natsu, all ready to cast dark spells to eliminate him.

"Didn't you mother warn you that when you play with fire, you get burned?" Natsu said as he stood up slowly. Both hands ignited in flame.

The leader of the dark men was speechless. He tried to form words, but all that came out were squeaks.

Natsu looked around the circle. " What? Can't speak in the presence of awesomeness?" He said mockingly. " You will be the last to die, and trust me, you will wish you were the first." Natsu looked up at the leader, his eyes were bright red.

Natsu knelt down and placed one hand on the ground. The other guild members openly cast their dark spells at Natsu, but none could penetrate the fire shell that he had formed around himself. Natsu focused his energy on the pavement. Before they knew it, the pavement turned into a hot goopy swamp of cement, locking the guild members in place. Natsu kept heating up the pavement until it burned red, turning into lava. The screams of the members echoed as they were swallowed up, skin peeling off before burning to a crisp.

The ground turned back to normal after all the dark guild members were fully submerged in the lava, disappearing from the face of the earth. Natsu was now staring intensely at the leader who had fallen back to leave his clearly under qualified men to handle Natsu. He now was trembling, falling to his knees

"Please! I'll do anything! Please don't kill me!"

Natsu ran at him, slamming him into the ground, holding his flame engulfed hand to the leader's face " Tell me where I can find your shitty guild hall"

" IN my pocket! A map! One of the higher level wizards gave it to me to recruit and show the soldiers. Please, don't kill me!"

Natsu grabbed the map from the leader and looked at the map. " This will do" Natsu said. He got off the leader and started walking away. As the leader got up still shaking, Natsu turned around.

" Oh I almost forgot" Natsu said. " Fire Dragon secret skill; internal fire" he whispered.

The leader's face twisted horrifically as he started to burn from the inside out.

" When you arrive in hell, be sure to tell them Natsu Dragneel sent you" Natsu said coldly without looking back. As he headed back towards the guild, Natsu smiled at the sound of the leader's dying screams.

 _That's for Lucy, fucker"_ he thought.

* * *

 ******At Sabertooth*****

" Natsu! How did you come across this map?!" Erza exclaimed.

" Just trusted my dragon instincts to find what I was looking for. Is this going to be enough now to formulate a plan to save Lucy?" Natsu said.

" Yes! Whoever made this map not only put the directions to the guild, but also included the directions as to where in the guild they are meeting. But I don't understand; it says only those who show darkness are welcome. Does that mean their Guild mark?" Gray inquired.

" Do we know what the mark is?" Erza said.

" No, I never got a look. Now that I think about it, I never saw any guild mark stand out off any of the members" Natsu recalled.

" In that case, we are going to need a script writer to lift the barrier for us to gain entry" Erza suggested.

" Or maybe, there was no guild mark on the members because you have to _possess darkness_ to enter the guild." Sting said.

" But none of us possess dark magic. Which means, we still need a script writer. Dammit, Fried is on a mission; he won't be able to make it to help us. There's always Levy, but Fairy Tail is far away, and the other members won't be arriving in time to help us immediately." Gray mentioned.

" We do have dark magic" said a voice. Everyone turned to look at who was speaking. " I have Ophiuchus; the 13th gate key. He is a darker celestial spirt, and could disguise us in order to enter through the barrier." Yukino said. "He would have to consume us, and once we enter, his regurgitate us back up once he enters through the barrier."

" That's SICK" Gray spat.

" That's AWESOME" Natsu smiled.

" So it's settled. We use Ophiuchus to get into the secret room, and once we get in, we locate Lucy and leave." Erza said.

" We should break up. You, Gray and Natsu find and rescue Lucy. Sabertooth members will locate the weapon and steal it. It shouldn't be in the hands of a dark wizard." Sting said. " I'll take Rogue and Yukino; we can't bring too many people as it will draw attention to us. Smaller is better." Sting suggested.

"Right! One last thing… I heard the members talking about how they plan to make the sacrifice in 4 days time" Natsu mentioned.

" Interesting; right on the summer solstice; the most powerful day in a celestial mage's year" Yukino continued, " Lucy won't be ignorant to that, and I'm going to assume she has already thought of a plan to try to escape."

" Feels like everything is clicking into place" Gray said. " But wouldn't Zeref know it's the strongest day for a celestial wizard?"

" Correct. It is a double edged situation. Our power increases, and because of that, our connection with our spirits is strongest which means our souls are more superficial within ourselves thus making it easier for Zeref to extract it from Lucy" Yukino explained.

" I still can't believe we are going to be consumed by a snake." Gray moaned.

" Stop whining Gray. This is all for Lucy!" Erza scolded him.

" Alright, I'm off to train a little more, to prepare for our rescue mission and to make sure my mind is sharp so that I can dish out some serious damage. Those bastards won't know what hit em" Natsu said, while punching his open hand.

" Excellent idea Natsu. We shall meet back here in 4 days" Erza said as Natsu headed out the guild doors.

* * *

 ******* Out in the surrounding forest somewhere*****

Natsu was sitting on a rock, mediating. He was focusing his energy in suppressing his inner rage, so that he may release the wrath of it on Zeref. The bandage that Lucy had noticed a couple days ago was aching to be taken off; it hid Natsu's ultimate secret weapon; one he couldn't fully control yet. Because he couldn't control it, he had to mediate to keep it under control, or else, as Igneel warned him _It will consume all of you, and you will lose yourself in its power._

 _Lucy_ Natsu's thoughts wondered in that direction. The aching bandage subsided. _I will save you, and once I do, I will make you mine as I should have done the moment I came back from training._

Natsu opened his eyes. It was dark. _How long have I been meditating for?_ He wondered

" Natsu! I found you!" Gray exclaimed. " C'mon Flame brain, we have Lucy to save. What have you been doing these last few days?"

 _Few days. FUCK._ Natsu thought. " Nothing of importance to you, Ice Boy." Natsu hissed.

" DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Gray yelled at Natsu.

" I swear I can never leave you two alone without a war breaking out" Erza said, appearing out of the bushes.

" Sorry Ma'am" they both said in unison. They both may be strong wizards now, but the wrath of Erza Scarlet was still terrifying for them. That dark stare of hers was torture enough.

They all headed back to Sabertooth to meet up with the others. Once they met up, they all dressed in black robes, and headed towards the Blood Shadow Guild.

* * *

Lucy was meditating in her cell. She could feel her power significantly increase, and she thought she could break away from the servants who would come to fetch her. The only problem was she needed to get her keys back and Zeref had them on his personal. Therefore, her only moment of escape was when Zeref would be preforming the ritual, probably standing over her. _Ill grab my keys off him, and open Loki's gate to take me into the Celestial realm._ Perfect. She had to stay sharp though as her window of opportunity would be very narrow and any fumbles could have fatal consequences.

As predicted, two servants arrived. They bound her wrists and led her towards where the sacrifice would take place.

When they arrived in the hall, there must have been hundreds of people. They all silenced when Lucy entered the room. The servants lead her into a magical room, which looked like they were going to walk straight into the back wall of the hall; It was just an illusion. Zeref stood there, staring at Lucy. " For someone who is about to die, you don't look the least bit scared" Zeref cooed.

Lucy didn't say anything, she just continued to look at the floor; she didn't want to give herself away.

" Tie her to the alter and make sure those bounds are tight!" Zeref demanded.

"Yes Master" the two servants replied in sync.

Lucy was lifted onto the alter. It was very cold. She noticed a small valley that lead from the top of the alter down to the ground then over to where a magic circle encompassed the chest the weapon was in.

"That valley is going to direct your soul to the chest after I extract it out of you. I cannot open the chest right now as that old annoying bastard put a spell on it to prevent darkness from opening it. It would just eat up my magic power and I need to be at my maximum to extract your darling soul. After I've done that, that chest will open, and that wielder's seal will be lifted." Zeref smiled, patting Lucy's head.

Lucy shuddered at his touch. Zeref turn towards the Servants. " Start bringing everyone in; I want them all to witness my beginning decent into the new world. The servants bowed and walked out to gather the members.

Lucy struggled to look at Zeref. She spotted her keys on a pack on the belt he was wearing. _Perfect. They tied my hands down at my sides, so I should be able to snatch my keys back while he is building up his magic . Then BAM I'm gone._

After 30 minutes had passed, everyone piled in the room to witness Zeref's sacrifice. Zeref stood over Lucy.

" Ready to die?" He smiled at her.

" Not quite yet" Lucy smiled back

* * *

Natsu, Erza, Gray and the rest of the Sabertooth gang arrived just outside the Blood shadow Guild hall. Yukino Summoned Ophiuchus. The Snake spirit gulped down the members one at a time. Gray watched horrified as Erza was first to be eaten. Yukino, Sting and Rogue were after, leaving Natsu and Gray.

" Go on Ice dick, don't be a pussy"

" Shut up! Its unnatural to be swallowed by a snake. What if we are just it's dinner plans?"

Natsu had it. Gray was delaying the whole plan. He punched Gray in the stomach and he stumbled back into the snakes open jaws. The Snake finally consumed Natsu right after and headed towards the guild.

When Ophiuchus entered the hall it was completely empty.

 _I cannot locate any human._ Ophiuchus whispered to the humans inside him.

 _There's a magic room; it's probably hidden somewhere here. Can you lock in on heat signatures?_ Yukino asked

 _I did, but it's strange, a huge amount is coming from the back wall of the guild._

 _That's it! The wall must be an illusion! Try going through the wall!_

"Not only did I get consumed by a snake, but now we are going to crash into a wall. This is certain death, why did I agree to this?!" Gray said out loud.

"Shut up Gray and focus!" Erza snapped.

The snake slowly passed through the wall. Everyone held their breath as he did. It worked! The snake passed through the wall with no hesitation.

Ophiuchus slid along the back wall. No one noticed a massive snake slithering around the back of the hall as they were all focused forward on Zeref. After he found an opening into a side room, he opened up and regurgitated everyone back.

"Thank you!" Yukino said, and the 13th gate closed.

Natsu was the first to the door that lead into the main room. C'mon guys, lets stand in front and wait for our moment.

The 6 hooded figures slowly walked out into the room and made way to a front section of the sacrifice. As they stood, Natsu's blood boiled when he saw Lucy tied to the alter. _Deep breathes_ he thought, suppressing his inner rage. He couldn't afford to give himself away being so close to rescuing Lucy.

 _Ready to die_ Natsu heard Zeref whisper to Lucy

 _Not Quite yet…._

Zeref snickered, and began increasing his magical power. A black magic circle surrounded Zeref and the alter. He turned to his guild. " Witness my power!" he turned to Lucy. His eyes were a terrifying black. _Lucy focus!_ Her mind screamed.

Zeref leaned in and pressed a finger to her forehead. Lucy screamed. She felt like her insides were being dragged across coarse sand paper. _FOCUS! GET YOUR KEYS_ She opened her tear filled eyes and grabbed her keys off Zeref's belt; he was too involved in his own magic to notice. Lucy tried to open Loki's gate, but she couldn't muster the words out loud as she couldn't stop screaming.

Natsu had enough. Something deep inside boiled over when he heard Lucy scream. The Bandage he had on his arm and torso burned off. Gray felt an enormous heat and looked over at Natsu. The members of Blood Shadow backed away from cloaked Natsu as the heat was too intense.

"Fire Dragon Hidden Power" Natsu yelled. " DRAGON WRATH"

Immediately he burst into flames, distracting the guild, giving Sabertooth their chance to grab the chest.

Zeref turned towards Natsu. " So you came! How I dreamed of ending you."

Natsu was too busy focusing his rage to respond. Zeref's face dropped as he looked down. His magic circle was melting! _It cannot be_ Zeref thought.

The ring of fire around Natsu extended out further, igniting Zeref. Lucy screamed even more as Natsu's flames engulfed her as well

" Hey Flamer, you're killing Lucy!" Gray yelled.

Natsu immediately stopped. _Lucy_ he thought.

Zeref looked in horror at Natsu. He melted his dark power reserves, making it so he couldn't use his maximum amount of magic. He quickly turned to Lucy. " You're Boyfriend has annoyed me beyond my limits. I shall mark you permanently so that he never forgets what his actions did to you." And with that, Zeref cast a dark dagger and plunged it into Lucy's eye.

Lucy screamed even more. The pain was so intense she ripped through what remained of the bonds ( as they were mostly burned by Natsu) and fell to the ground, clawing at her eye.

Natsu's boiling point now boiled over. He heard within himself _release me._ It took everything Natsu had to suppress it, but he failed and within his flames, he noticed his bandages had fallen off, the ancient symbol showing. The symbol morphed into his arm, creating a demonic looking arm and claws for hands. He looked at Zeref. And in a terrifying voice whispered _my turn to mark you_.

Erza and Gray ran to Lucy. " Quick we need to get her out of here" Erza said.

Lucy screaming at this point for Gray to freeze her eye " It burns into my brain, Gray, freeze it"

Not wanting to let Lucy continue to suffer, Gray obliged praying that he wouldn't feel Natsu's wrath later.

Pain now relieved, Lucy looked up at Erza and Gray. They hid behind the alter trying to figure out their next move.

" We need to get out of here, Natsu is losing control and it won't be long before he burns us all." Gray yelled

" You two need to get to the chest. Zeref cannot have it any longer. I'll take care of Natsu" Lucy stated.

" Are you well enough to do so?" Erza asked.

" It's the strongest day of the year for me. I'll handle Natsu" Lucy confirmed.

Erza and Gray ran behind Zeref and headed towards the chest. Sting and Rogue were busy fighting off guild members, and Yukino was backing them up, but making no progress in getting close to it. Gray and Erza jumped in, but there were so many guild members out numbering them, it was almost impossible to get to the chest.

* * *

 _My turn to mark you_ Natsu said. He jumped at Zeref, Claw arm first, and ripped into his arm. Zeref fell to the ground in complete agony as the flesh burned with a surprising intensity.

Lucy ran over to Natsu. "Natsu! Please, we need to get out of here while we can! Please! Come back to me!" she pleaded.

Natsu was too involved in his power to notice Lucy. That inner raged was consuming Natsu. Lucy spotted that the scales from his demonic arm started forming up towards his shoulder.

Lucy could only think of one thing that would break Natsu out of his spell.

Lucy kissed Natsu.

Natsu stopped in his tracks. The voice in his head disappeared and his claw arm vanished, leaving his normal one behind. He closed his eyes. When Lucy broke the kiss he opened his eyes, mentally feeling like he got to take a breath after being suffocated. He was back.

Natsu grabbed Lucy by the arm and pulled her behind him, protecting her.

Zeref was still on the ground, looking at Natsu terrified.

" So it's true, brother, you have discovered the power to awaken the demon inside"

" Brother? Fuck off you bastard, I will _kill_ you after what you did to Lucy" Natsu spat

Lucy took this as her chance to sneak away and attempt to help the others get the chest.

While everyone was distracted with fighting Sabertooth, erza and gray, she used Virgo to dig a tunnel from where she was to where the chest was.

When Lucy arrived at the chest, she promptly opened it; she didn't have the strength left to carry the chest, but maybe enough to carry the weapon.

"You don't understand Natsu…." Zeref began before turning his attention to the chest. He felt the magical presence of the weapon and saw Lucy holding it.

" NO! I will NOT LOSE"

Lucy held the weapon in her hands. It was a golden armlet. It was opened, waiting for someone to wear it. But before Lucy could react, it snapped onto her forearm; immediately sending massive amounts of magical energy surging through her body. She glowed white, and Natsu and the others stopped to look. Lucy stood up and with all her might yelled "I COMMAND YOU EARTH: TRANSPORT."

The ground shook and the ground collapsed under the dark guild members, sending them into a fiery doom. Vines appeared out of the ground and engulfed the members of Fairy Tail and Sabertooth, in cocoon like structures.

" I WILL NOT LOSE" Zeref screamed, summoning another dagger. He launched it at Lucy, but Yukino saw it coming and jumped in front of the flying magic dagger. She took the hit right to the chest.

Lucy grabbed Yukino and pulled her into her vine cocoon before it closed.

Sting, Rogue, Erza, Gray, and Natsu were all caught in their vine cocoons and were pulled under ground.

Before Lucy's fully closed, she looked at Zeref,

" I will kill you. That's a promise"

and the vine cocoon shut, then disappeared into the ground.

* * *

Gray was the first to step out of his vine cocoon. " Great, swallowed by a snake, then swallowed by living vines. What a crazy day" he thought.

Erza, Sting, Rogue and Natsu stepped out of theirs not long after Gray.

They were in front of the Sabertooth Guild hall.

" Where's Lucy and Yukino? Did any of you see them get out?!" Sting asked with worrying over tones.

" No" Erza said, " But I saw Yukino run towards Lucy. Maybe they got out together"

Just as Erza finished her sentence, the ground shook, and out popped another vine cocoon. It opened slowly, revealing a crying Lucy holding Yukino.

At this point, the back up Happy retrieved from Fairy Tail arrived at the guild hall, just in time to see Lucy and Yukino.

Sting was the first to rush to them. He dropped to his knees when he saw the dagger. Lucy clung to Yukino, crying even harder. Natsu walked over and lightly started to pull Lucy off Yukino.

" Let her be with her guild" He whispered to Lucy. She let go, and Sting held Yukino.

"….. I will miss you Sting. You have created such a loving and strong guild. Please understand that this sacrifice was necessary to aid you all in defeating Zeref…. I go to join the stars; think of me when you look upon them at night, and I shall smile down at you…"

Yukino's eyes closed, and her body went limp in Sting's arms. Rogue ran over, tears filling both the dragon slayer's eyes.

Natsu held Lucy as she cried into his chest. " She died protecting me" Lucy kept saying on repeat. Natsu held her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. " She sacrificed herself in the hopes that you now obtain a power maybe strong enough to defeat her killer. You now need to avenge her and make sure her death will not go to waste"

Lucy looked up at Natsu. Her shaking stopped and her tears ceased. She nodded in agreement.

Sting and Rogue pulled her cloak over Yukino's face and carried her into the guild hall. The Fairy Tail guild was a bit confused, and Erza was the first to speak,

" We fought a dark guild who were trying to destroy our world. Yukino was murdered protecting Lucy who had stolen the weapon Zeref was trying to manipulate for his advantage. He threw a magic dagger at Lucy, and Yukino jumped in the way to save her. Her Life will not be in vain, we as a guild will avenge her death, and bring down this darkness."

Lucy spoke up, " I will put together her funeral. It will begin tonight, look to the stars and they will guide you to where you can pay your respects to our fallen comrade."

Lucy turned away and left to enter the Sabertooth guild. She found Sting and Rogue, talking to the rest of guild. After everyone dispersed with sadness in their eyes, she met up with the dragon slayers and discussed where Yukino would be buried.

* * *

 ********** Later that night********

Lucy, with the help of Sting and Rogue, carefully placed Yukino's body on a stone alter. Lucy carefully placed flowers around her body. The sun had set and members from both guilds started to arrive to pay their respects. After everyone arrived, Sting said a few words and they had a moment of silence.

Sting remembered what Yukino said earlier. " I go to join the stars; think of me when you look upon them at night, and I shall smile down.."

He looked up towards the starry night sky. Everyone followed his lead, and as they did, Yukino's body began to glow a faint gold. Slowly, her body began to crumble into small dust like particles and travel up towards the heavens. Everyone awed in amazing as they took form of Yukino. She walked over to Sting and smiled. " Thank you" she said, and kissed him. " I'll always love you"She whispered to Sting. Yukino then walked over to Lucy and handed Lucy her keys. " I know you will take care of them" She smiled. Lucy nodded.

Yukino turned towards the sky and her particles dispersed into the wind, carrying them up towards the stars.

Tears ran down Sting's face as he smiled at the heavens.

 _I will find you in the after life_ _Yukino_


	3. Chapter 3

**SORRY for the long wait everyone! I bought a place and moved and had to do renos FML. But here is chapter 3 and I promise to have 4 up reaaaalllly soon!**

 **3**

Lucy left the burial site and headed towards the docks. Something about the sea was so soothing to her, and some reflection about what had just expired over the last few days she figured would do her some good.

She walked down the docks, the wood creaking beneath her feet while she was looking up at the night sky. The stars seemed clearer tonight, and despite her losing a friend, it felt peaceful. Lucy reached the end of the dock and sat down letting her feet dip into the cool sea water.

She looked at the keys that Yukino had entrusted to her, Pisces, Libra and Ophiuchus. _I have to do right by them as she did right by me, but it's too soon to open their gates. I don't even know if they would even want to be my friends after all, I was the she sacrificed herself for._ Lucy thought.

 _Maybe in a few days I'll open them and explain the situation, although they probably feel her presence has vanished._ Lucy's gaze fell on the her armlet. _But right now I need to figure out what the hell this weapon is and why I managed to summon vines out of nothing. I don't even know how this thing works; it definitely choose wrong when it came to powerful wizards. Besides, this weapon possesses Dragon Slayer magic, and I am no Dragon Slayer, it should have been Natsu or one of the other slayers._ But the most troubling memory was the one of Natsu and how demonic he turned during the ritual. Lucy touched the ice where Gray had frozen her eye. Lucy sighed. _Now I just look freaky. But luckily hiding my eye behind my hair was a good idea, as no one has noticed it. Maybe I should go get it looked at._

Lucy looked down at her feet in the water. She felt a calmness wash over her. She thought about Natsu and kissing him and she hugged herself as a smile stretched across her face. She felt her cheeks flush and she closed her eyes, reliving the most chaotic situation to have her first kiss in.

And as if on que, she heard the creaks of the wooden dock. Natsu approached slowly and took his place beside her on the dock. A long silent moment passed before either of them said anything.

Natsu looked at Lucy. " Did you mean what you said…. _earlier"_ He said. Lucy opened her eye and looked at him. " Of course. The only real sadness I find in it is that the darkness is what is bringing us together. Your 5 year training mission nearly killed me inside. I could not bear to lose you again to _anything or anyone_ " Lucy said

A smile appeared on Natsu's face. " Everyday on my mission I thought of you Luce. And everytime I thought of you, I remembered the events that transpired 5 years ago. I needed to become stronger so that I could protect my family, and most importantly, _you._ "

Natsu grabbed her hand and looked at her. He brushed her hair aside and saw what Zeref did to her. He rested his hand on her cheek, and she leaned into his warmth.

" I will make this right, what he did to you will not go unavenged" Natsu hissed. Lucy could feel the heat coming off him. She placed her hand on his cheek. " I don't blame you for this; Zeref would have killed me if you hadn't shown up. He told me you didn't know where I was being held. I figured you weren't coming at all"

She saw a pink flush across Natsu's face. He pulled her towards him. Natsu looked into Lucy's eyes, " I love you, and I will protect you will every ounce of power I possess" He kissed her perfect lips. She kissed him back, feeling the heat coming off his lips; it stirred something in her, right down to her core. She wanted him. She needed him.

Natsu deepened the kiss, tangling his fingers in her golden hair as she placed her hand on his muscular chest, feeling his heart beat. Their lips parted and Natsu was the first to explore her mouth with his tongue. _She tastes so sweet_ He thought. Natsu pulled Lucy into his lap and continued to run his fingers through her hair and run his other hand up and down her back, feeling her shutter with every single one of his touches.

Lucy wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and slowly became bolder with her intimacy. She started nibbling on Natsu's lower lip and he let out a small laugh. " stop taking my moves" he seductively whispered in her ear, biting it right after. She let out a soft moan and Natsu became desperate to hear more of her moans. He lifted her up slightly and she wrapped her legs around his hips. He placed his hands on Lucy's thighs, feeling how smooth her skin was drove him crazy, and he felt a primal instinct start to rise up, along with something else. Lucy felt his hardness under her center, and she moaned again. She could feel his breath on her neck as her started grinding up on her. She bit her bottom lip as he dragged his teeth over her neck before placing fiery slow seductive kisses where he had previously dragged his teeth.

Lucy let out another, louder moan pulling on his messy pink hair.

" I think it's time for you two to cool off"

Lucy's head snapped up and saw an approaching Gray Fullbuster. She jumped off Natsu with a tomato red face.

" Hey what's the big ide-" Natsu couldn't finish his sentence before Gray turned the dock into ice. Natsu slipped attempting standing up and fell into the ocean.

" We need to get your eye looked at Lucy, my ice won't hold the darkness at bay much longer" He said.

Natsu screamed from the water " YOU'RE DEAD ICE PRICK! THIS ONE TAKES THE CAKE!" He jumped up back onto the dock, forgetting Gray had frozen it, only to slip and fall back into the ocean.

Lucy giggled, and looked back at Gray. She felt where her eye used to be and felt water running down her face. " You're right, the ice is melting."

"Wendy is here, and she told me to come get you while she sets up the infirmary so she can extract the dark magic out. We need to go now"

Natsu melted the ice before getting back on the dock. " FIGHT ME!" he yelled at Gray.

" Ill kick your ass later, dragon breath, but Lucy needs to come with me. Now." He said coldly to the Dragon Slayer.

The flames disipated in Natsu's hands. "Fine, but I'm coming too" he said sharply.

 ****** At Sabertooth Infirmary*********

Lucy sat on the examining table while Wendy looked at her eye.

" Well the good news is Gray's magic froze the dark magic from spreading any further. The bad news is when we melt the ice, the darkness will spread again, so we'll have to work fast to contain it. I'll put you under Lucy, while I draw out the dark magic. Then we'll have to take you back to Porlyusica and maybe she can conjure you up a new eye. " Wendy said.

" Okay! I'm ready" Lucy said, a bit nervously.

Natsu and Gray were standing by the doors. Lucy hesitantly got into the surgery bed. Wendy and Carla wheeled Lucy into a private room. Natsu grabbed Lucy's hand and whispered into her ear, " I'll be right here when you're back" He gave her one of his signature toothy smiles. She weakly smiled back at him.

That was the last thing Lucy remembered before Wendy put her under a sleeping spell…

 ******somewhere else******

 _Hello? Where am I?_ Lucy thought in her head, but heard echoing out loud around her.

 _Finally we meet dear Lucy_ she heard a voice say. She looked around and saw a tall figure walking her way.

 _I bet you have a lot of questions for me. But let me begin by introducing myself. My name is Zodiac, the Creator of the weapon that is currently around your forearm._

Lucy replied, _I heard the story Mr. Star told me. It was created in a time of war for peace, but only ended up creating more devastation. Why would you create something so dangerous?_

 _At the time I was only thinking that we needed peace between the dragons and the humans. I could show them that we could possess magic as great as theirs but also be willing to work towards bridging our differences to have order. Dragons will only listen and follow to something powerful, and the weapon was the only reason I caught igneel's attention in the first place. He saw the good in having peace between us, and teaching humans dragon slayer magic so that we could have a deeper respect for their kind, and they could see us as powerful allies. Igneel and I realized our species needed each other to vanquish the evil on both our sides; Acnologia and Zeref and his demons._

Lucy that that sink in for a moment. _That makes sense, but why did the weapon choose me? I'm not a Dragon Slayer; I'm a celestial wizard._

Zodiac continued, _This weapon isn't a form of dragon slayer magic like is was rumored to be. Dragons who teach their humans magic only teach one primary magic. The human may add a secondary magic to the primary as they advance in technique, but in order to harness this weapon, you must have the abililty to hold multiple primary magic types, and the only wizards that can do that are celestial wizards. Lucy, you can call upon 3 spirits at once and your spirits all control different types of magic thus giving you the ability hold multiple primary magic types at once. Celestial wizard's have what I like to call a neutral magic source, that allows their spirts to draw from to use their own unique skill and that neutral magic source is what this weapon requires to harness the powers of the elements._

Zodiac Continued, _This weapon gives the user the ability to control the 4 primary elements; Earth, Wind, Water and Fire. As the wizard increases in strength, you can add secondary elements like light and darkness and combine elements in any way to create powerful magic. That is why I created this to get the attention of the Dragons. It looks like Dragon slayer magic, but it's stronger._

Lucy slowly asked, _are..._ _are you a celestial wizard?_

 _Yes._ Zodiac replied, _I was until the magic I created I quickly realized came at a high price._

 _What's the price?_

Zodiac waited a moment before saying, _Sacrificed_ _Celestial Keys._

 _But I never sacrificed any keys and I used earth magic to make vines to help me and my friends escape Zeref. How does that work?_

Zodiac answered, _The wizard who stole my weapon could only control one element, earth, same as you. Because I created the weapon from earth (The metal armlet) it is the only primary element that doesn't require sacrificed celestial keys . Earth is the easiest to control and fastest to master of the four primary elements. You can still deal a lot of devastation with the power to control even one element. But the wizard didn't know that you can control all four if you sacrifice celestial keys. Or in our case, break celestial keys. This is why when you were taken, it had to be you as you carry the most keys._

 _So when Zeref was sacrificing me to break the seal on this weapon, he was going to then break my keys to gain more elemental power? But he isn't a celestial wizard?_

 _Correct._ Zodiac continued, _The Celestial spirits all come from elements; that's how I created them. Zeref and anyone powerful enough, could harness this weapon, and break keys to unlock different elements. But because he is not a celestial wizard, he would never be able to combine the elements; he would only be able to use one at a time. Still devastating however, but not reaching the truly terrifying power of the weapon._

 _Wait, back up, you created my celestial spirits?!_

 _Yes. Thus the name Zodiac Keys. The many thousands of years I walked this Earth, I was alone. I created the spirits from the elements of earthland and the stars. That is why the cost of fully wielding the weapon is so high; you have to give the magic of the elements to the weapon in order to control them, and in doing that, you have to break the bond between the star magic and the elemental magic that create the spirit._

Lucy felt sorrow build up inside. She already went through the loss of breaking Aquarius's key in order to summon the Celestial King. She never wanted to do that again, but here she is, being told she would have to break _all_ her keys.

 _I already went through the loss of breaking a key. I refuse to do it again._ She answered

 _Spoken like a true celestial wizard. But there is a positive catch Lucy; The spirit doesn't die; they are only separated from their elemental bond, thus becoming 100% Star magic. They'll become apart of their constellations in the night sky. Once the wielder of the weapon dies, the elemental magic in the weapon drains and finds its way back to the star magic it bonded with originally. Then the keys are all created again, the spirits are returned in full form to the celestial realm and their keys are scattered across the earth for celestial wizards to find. It's like a cycle._

 _So wait, because Aquarius's bond wasn't broken to use this weapon, her key is out there?_

 _Yes. This is partially why I have come to you. I've come to tell you where her key is. You hold 12 of the 13 keys. When you find hers, you will hold all of the Zodiac keys. Then you will need to make the decision to break them to harness their elemental bond._

 _Why would I have to decide that? The answer is always going to be never; they are my friends._

 _Lucy, the wizard who stole the weapon all those years ago was the same wizard who tried to harness it once again; Zeref himself. And this is the only weapon on earth powerful enough to completely destroy him and the demons he created. I need to know your decision before I tell you the location of the Key._

 _You can't possibly ask me to make that decision right now._

 _I know. I will give you 3 days time to make your decision. Your training needs to start quickly as Zeref has returned, I'm afraid, more powerful than before._

Lucy agreed to Zodiac's terms now that she fully understood the extent of the weapon.

 _I understand everything now. One last question though, how did you come to terms with destroying your keys?_

 _I never destroyed my keys remember? The weapon was stolen from me before I could make that decision, and I put my soul into it to create the seal from darkness ever wielding it. In doing that, my soul is moulded into this weapon, which is why I have the power to bring you here inside the mind of the weapon._

The figure Lucy was focused on started fading away like smoke after the fire was put out. 

_I look forward to our reunion in three days Lucy._

..cy…..ucy…..lucy…..LUCY

Lucy squinted before opening her eyes fully. The first fuzzy shape she noticed look like pink cotton candy before she found herself focusing on Natsu's hair.

" Where am I?" Lucy asked.

" The infirmary. Remember you went to have the dark magic drawn from your eye?" Natsu reminded Lucy, with a hint of worry to his voice.

" Oh! Yes now I remember." Lucy said stretching while looking around the room. " That was the best sleep ever."

Natsu smiled. " I'd hope so, you've been out for 5 days."

" Five days?!" Lucy exclaimed. _A 30 minute conversation in the weapon was 5 earth days. wow!_ " Why didn't you wake me earlier?"

" We tried. Loke actually appeared, worried that you had died because he couldn't feel your spiritual presence anymore." Natsu said. " When we assessed you, he was shocked; told us that your spirit had travelled far beyond the limits of the celestial realm. Where did you go Lucy?"

Lucy looked away from Natsu's worried gaze and stared at her armlet. " It doesn't matter, I'm back now and so hungry I could probably eat more than you!"

Natsu smiled, " You're on blondie!"

" Wait one moment love birds" Gray was standing in the door way " Wendy needs to remove bandages and inspect Lucy before you to run off to bump uglies."

Lucy blushed as Natsu jumped at Gray " IT'S ON FREEZER BURN"

The two amped up men fell out the door as Wendy walked in to inspect Lucy.

" Let's see how I did" Wendy said, nervously pulling off the bandages around Lucy's head.

" Im sure you did great Wendy," Lucy encouraged.

Wendy inspected the area. " Well there appears to be no dark magic present, however, with the removal of the darkness, it took all the light out of your eye too." Wendy held up a mirror, and Lucy saw that her eye instead of all black, was now clear like glass.

" See that's why you need to go see Porlyusica so that she can fill your eye back in to match the other one."

"Thanks Wendy. You did a fantastic job!"

" Well then, we must head back to Fairy Tail" Erza walked into the infirmary.

" With all due respect Erza, I'd like to stay for a couple more days if that's okay. The scenery is so peaceful around here, and I think it will give me a good energy boost to make the trip back easier" Lucy said.

" Well you are right, it is beautiful here, and the cake shop is unlike any other in Magnolia. I'll send everyone else back and Natsu, Gray and I will escort you back when you feel ready."

" Thank you Erza. Now I need to eat before my stomach eat's itself" Lucy said

Lucy walked out into the main guild hall and saw Natsu and Gray fighting, while Sting and Rogue attempted to stop them from destroying any more of the guild. Lucy smiled and headed over to the bar. She decided to have the Stew as she still felt a bit weak, and sat down at a table to herself.

Lucy stared into her soup _I have three days to decide if I want to make the biggest sacrifice of all time. I don't know if Im even strong enough to wield this thing. The gamble is huge. And I'll never see my Celestial friends again._ Lucy stirred her spoon in her stew, having not even taken a bite yet.

Natsu noticed Lucy sitting by herself. He landed a final blown to Gray and walked over to Lucy. He plopped down beside her. " I know, Mira's food is way better, but food is food, you should eat up." Lucy, still deep in thought, didn't reply.

Natsu didn't like being ignored, so he picked Lucy up, threw her over his shoulder and carried her out of the guild hall with shocked protests from Lucy.

Natsu hiked into the forest with Lucy still over his shoulder. She had given up protesting as she knew she wasn't strong enough to win a physical brawl with the dragon slayer. Natsu stopped when they came to a water fall.

" The last 5 days you were out, I came here to calm down. I was afraid you weren't coming back." Natsu said facing the falls, " What aren't you telling me Luce? I can read you, and right now I know you went somewhere in those 5 days. Where? Please tell me so I can help you?"

"Natsu, its not something I can just discuss with you. I have a life changing decision to make in the next 3 days, and I cant discuss it with you because you aren't a Celestial wizard. You wouldn't understand the sacrifice I may have to make"

" Lucy, I went on a 5 year training mission. I came back because I thought my training with Igneel had ended as our connection was gone. On the first day I came here during your 5 day mental absence, Igneel came to me again. He felt the presence of _that weapon_ activated. He told me that 400 years ago, he met the maker of that weapon, and witnessed the raw power it released. He told me it was dragon slayer magic, more powerful than what he could ever teach me. So you're going to tell me everything you know, because that's the only way I can continue talking to Igneel. "

Lucy sighed and sat down on a rock. Natsu stared at her intensely.

" So I traveled the weapon's soul I guess. Well I was brought there. Or Woke there when Wendy put me under that sleep spell. I talked to the creator of the weapon and it's not Dragon Slayer magic as it is rumored to be. The creater, Zodiac, was actually a celestial wizard. This weapon gives the weilder the power of the elements earth wind water and fire. Anyone can harness this weapon, but only a celestial wizard can combine any elements together as we are capable of holding more than one primary magic source. Zeref could use it, but only one element at a time."

" That's so awesome!" Natsu exclaimed.

" But the big sacrifice I have to make to utlize this weapon is I have to destroy my celestial keys in order to control the elements. Zodiac created the keys and the spirits with star magic and from the elements of Earthland, so the bonds that make up my spirits have to be broken for the weapon has to absorb the elemental magic harnessed in my spirits."

Natsu stared at Lucy. " So he is asking you to sacrifice your friends. And you said no right?"

Lucy looked away from Natsu, " At first I did, but the fact that this weapon was created by a Celestial mage who created the keys in the first place is making me question things. Then on the other hand, Zeref is going to stop at nothing to find me and this weapon and this weapon is the only thing that can destroy him, Acnologica, and the demons. I feel backed into a corner having no where to go."

" Lucy, I'll stand beside you no matter what decision you make. But you cannot make this decision on your own. If your celestial spirits mean anything to you, you'll be honest with them, and make a decision together." Natsu said, now hugging Lucy.

And as if on cue, Loke appeared worried. "Lucy we need to talk, where have you been? I lost spiritual connection with you and we all thought you passed"

" Loke!" Lucy said turning to him and hugging him, " I need you to take me into the Celestial Realm. There's an important matter we all need to discuss"

"As you wish, beautiful" and Loke vanished with Lucy, not before giving Natsu a dirty look.

 _What's his problem. What an asshole._ Natsu thought. He then turned to the falls after they vanished and began again to mediate.

 _What did Zeref mean by Brother? And how did he know about my darkest secret._

Natsu closed his eyes, and began searching for any trace of Igneel; if anyone had the answers it was him.


	4. Chapter 4

**SORRY AGAIN! had a bit of writers block, and then I got drunk and had a break through. I had to rewrite one of the back stories to fit, but it isn't a main character so don't stress! Anyway Enjoy!**

 *****400 years ago*****

"Ophiuchus, Its been too long" Zodiac said cheerfully.

" Indeed it has, how can I be of service master?" Ophiuchus replied with the usual cool tone.

" No need to be so proper, I was just wanting to talk, like old times; before this war with the dragons broke out like a fiery fever across this land. I have crafted a weapon that may sway them or some of them, into siding with us. This deep rooted hatred towards each other needs to cease and the evilness that consumes both our sides must be vanquished."

Ophiuchus was listening intently." Honestly master, I don't understand why you summoned me when really this war does not impact us spirits much, aside from the distress it causes you"

" Ophiuchus, the way I created this weapon will in fact, have a huge impact on the celestial world as it requires celestial spirits in order for it to function. The bonds between the spirits and the earth elements that I bonded together to create them must be broken, so that I can harness that power to take out the enemies."

" I still don't see how my opinion is valid here; you created me from the remains of a black hole; a fallen star. You know because of that I am an exception to your celestial rules; I do not have to obey my master's commands and I have control over my own gate. You even gave me my key to prove you don't want to control me"

" I know that when I bring this up with the celestial spirits, they will not hesitate to agree to the situation; but Ophiuchus the fact that you can deliberately disobey me is exactly why I require your opinion. I need to know if _your_ bonds were to be broken in order for this weapon to be used, would you agree to it?"

Ophiuchus thought for a moment. This had to be the first time that Zodiac asked him for his opinion. In their previous discussions, he just played devil's advocate to the discussion as they usually held the same view. While Ophiuchus was deep in thought, a beautiful woman walked into the room.

" Zodiac, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I was just wondering if I could offer you any tea or something to eat?

" My dear Sakura, do not be sorry. I am fine"

" It has been days since you ate anything. If we are to be married, I would prefer you not be a skeleton." Sakura replied worried. Zodiac laughed. Ophiuchus could not believe how beautiful she was. White long hair like the purest moon light, and eyes so intensely blue, it caught Ophiuchus off guard. He was breathless.

" Oh Ophiuchus, we finally meet. My fiancé talks so much about you, but it's finally nice to put a face to the name" Sakura said.

Ophiuchus stood up. " It is my honor, my lady" and bowed slightly. " My service extends out to yourself as well. If you need me for anything just call out my name"

" You're too kind." She laughed. Her eyes were so full of kindness, and her smile was so addicting to look at, Ophiuchus had a hard time looking away.

" If that is all you want to ask my dear, we do have a conversation we would like to return to" Zodiac said, snapping Ophiuchus out of his trance.

" Of course" Sakura replied, and Ophiuchus watched as she walked away.

" Well, Ophiuchus, what is your answer?"

" My answer is yes; and for both selfish and non selfish reasons. First, because of the darkness you created me from, I would like to return to it, and be released from my earthly bonds. However, the earthly light that you bonded me with, also says yes because this war will destroy the earth and everyone on it and that needs to be prevented at all and any costs."

"With that answer, I won't second guess myself when the spirits agree to the situation." Zodiac said

" is that all you ask of me?" Ophiuchus asked.

" Yes, you may return to the celestial world" and with that, Ophiuchus disappeared.

* * *

it was 2:30am and Ophiuchus could not stop watching her sleep. She was sleeping on her side, hair splayed out and watching it rise and fall with her breath with the most soothing feeling Ophiuchus had felt since before Zodiac created him. Everyday there was a constant war within himself between the light and dark that zodiac thought he merged together perfectly, but the reality was his insides felt like oil and water. One just sitting on top of the other in the same container.

Sakura tossed in her sleep and turned over to face Ophiuchus, her eyes opening a bit before she fell back into a deep sleep. He approached her slowly. For the first time ever, he smiled. Ophiuchus hesitated at first, but he felt this over whelming sense to brush her face. Sakura turned her head into his touch and opened her eyes slowly, grabbing his hand.

"You are silly to think I haven't noticed your presence watching me for the last year, Ophiuchus."

" I would never under estimate you, my lady." He replied. " And I understand if you wish for me to never return."

" No, that is not the case. Zodiac has been consumed with building this weapon of his that I do not see him anymore. The stress of it all has turned him away from the man I feel in love with. Now I sleep these lonely nights."

Ophiuchus often saw her cry in her sleep, but to see those eyes fill with storm hurt him somehow he didn't understand. He sat on her bed and held her. Sakura looked up at him with _those_ eyes and he felt something inside melt away.

" Why do you watch me sleep?"

" Because, for once in my exisitence, I feel at peace. From the first moment I laid eyes on you, I felt at peace. I don't know why, but if this is what love is, then I must love you." Ophiuchus said, looking down at those intense blue eyes. " I want, no need, to be with you, forever my Lady."

Without hesitation, Sakura kissed him. Taken by surprise, Ophiuchus pulled away, holding her shoulders. Then he looked into those eyes, and studied her face. It wasn't long before they continued their kiss, increasing in intensity and passion as time passed. Every moment was pure bliss for Ophiuchus and Sakura. Nothing had ever felt so perfect as this moment did. Before he could register what was going on, he found his hands exploring her body, moving up and down, feel every inch of her, and lingering over her chest. Sakura's breathing changed; Ophiuchus moved his kissing downwards; her neck, and now exposed collar bones. She moaned quietly and more adrenaline pumped through him. They both stopped and looked at each other, asking one another to go further, without verbalizing. Slowly, Ophiuchus peeled off her night dress and studied what lay underneath. Her skin was pale and soft. He could look at her beauty forever, and it still wouldn't be long enough to experience her.

He ran his fingers down her face, and traced her lips with his thumb. She grabbed his hand and like before, leaned into his touch. Ophiuchus continued to kiss her deeply while her hands were busy ripping off his pants and shirt. The moonlight caught his rigid muscular lines, and she felt a stir in her centre. He lined himself up with her, and before continuing they looked at one another. Then Sakura grabbed his face and nodded. He kissed her slowly while pushing through her innocence. She squirmed a little and let out a sharp breath into his mouth. They both stopped until she adjusted to him being inside her, and slowly continued.

It was late, and Zodiac decided to turn in for the night, but first, he would check on his soon to be wife to be before going to his room. He opened the door to her bedroom just a crack so that the light wouldn't wake her. He peered in and immediately it felt like he swallowed a ton of bricks.

Zodiac saw _them_ cuddled up together; Ophiuchus' arm around her, both sound asleep, naked. He shut the door quietly, and a deep rage built up inside him.

* * *

" I cant hide it anymore Ophiuchus" Sakura said sadly. " He will know I am with child"

Ophiuchus looked at her. It had been 6 months since their love affair began and now she cannot use inactivity as an excuse for her mysterious weight gain. " We have to tell him" Ophiuchus finally said.

" We can't! I am betrothed to Zodiac. If he finds out I wasn't loyal to him, he'll kill me"

" Calm yourself. Zodiac and I have been friends since the beginning. I'll have a discussion with him and everything will work out. He is more open minded than you think Sakura" Before Ophiuchus went to talk with Zodiac, he kissed Sakura on the head. " I'll be back with great news."

* * *

Zodiac was over his desk working steadily away on his weapon when Ophiuchus appeared.

"Master," he began, "I was wondering if you had a moment to talk. There is a matter of importance we must discuss."

Zodiac smiled grimly and looked up at Ophiuchus. "You mean how you fucked my wife to be, and now she's pregnant? What further is there to discuss?" Zodiac replied, coldly.

"You were aware?! Why didn't make your knowledge known earlier?" Ophiuchus spat back at Zodiac.

"Because, I wanted to see you two suffer having to hide your bastard child. She was mine. I waited for a long time for our lives to converge, and you _greedy, sinful_ spirit took that away from me. I was so lonely in the beginning, and that is why I created all of you spirits, and to be betrayed by the one I created for honesty is quite ironic. Even though you don't abide by the laws of the celestial world, you still broke the most important one. _A spirit will never hold a romantic love that is not of their own kind._ Ophiuchus' eyes narrowed.

Zodiac continued, "Since I am more powerful than you; I will send you back to the Celestial Realm, and have arranged for the Celestial king to keep you there until I die. You can watch as I raise your child as my own, and it will never know the truth; and above all else; it will never know _you"_

Ophiuchus started fading away. "You bastard! I will find my way back into this world. And I will kill you" he said, before vanishing. Sakura heard the commotion downstairs and knew the conversation was doomed from the start. She grabbed her pack and ran out the back door, into the forest, and didn't stop until her feet couldn't take her any further.

* * *

Ophiuchus fought with all his strength, trying to escape the bonds he was being held with by the celestial king until he was exhausted and his wrists hurt from pulling the magical chains.

In his head, he could hear Sakura screaming for him, and he needed to work fast. Even though it was close to the end of the first day in the Celestial world, it was equal to 3 months on Earthland, and Sakura was due with their child any moment. Ophiuchus slowed his thoughts as he needed to think clearly. In his almost insanity, he realized if he had no hands, he couldn't be bound. The first creature to come to mind was a snake, and instead of fighting the bonds, he let the darkness almost consume him, and transformed into a massive and terrifying snake.

The bonds fell to the ground, and Ophiuchus used the remaining magic stamina he had to open his gate to Earthland. He arrived just in time to realize the screams were coming from Sakura being in labor. She was in the middle of a forest.

Sakura screamed at the sight of the monster of a snake that appeared in front of her.

"Don't be afraid Sakura," Ophiuchus said telepathically, "It's me, Ophiuchus." He could hear her thoughts. She was relieved he was there, and at the same time, was in too much pain to vocalize her feelings as the labor was really intense. The snake nuzzled her face and curled around her, adding comfort to a stressed and exhausted body. Long after, baby cries were heard, and Ophiuchus was able to turn back into his human form as he had time to replenish his magic due to the lengthy labor and delivery. All three cuddled together. "What do we call our daughter Sakura?" Ophiuchus asked.

"Yukino. I always loved that name." Ophiuchus smiled the way Sakura fell in love with. He closed his eyes and a single tear fell from his eye as he had never been happier in all his existence. Suddenly, Ophiuchus heard a twisting and plunge sound, followed by Sakura gasping for air. He shot his eyes open, and to his horror, saw his beloved impaled through the heart by a tree root. Ophiuchus looked around to the source, and saw no other than Zodiac standing behind him.

"If I cannot have her, no one can!" Zodiac yelled raising his arm with the armlet around it

Ophiuchus' tears turned to hatred and he stood up with his daughter in his arms. "I do not have the strength to fight you, Zodiac, but I do have the strength to escape your toxic plans." And with that, Ophiuchus and Yukino disappeared into the spirit world.

Zodiac fell to his knees. He yelled towards the heavens " I curse you Ophiuchus with death. May it follow you where ever you roam."

* * *

"So you're saying that weapon has more power to it than what I was able to wield?"

"Yes" Ophiuchus replied. "If you break celestial keys, you can harness not only earth, but fire, water and air as you break the bonds between star and earth. Now that I've given you this information, I need you to hold up you're end of the deal Zeref."

"Yes Ophiuchus, I will hide your daughter from ever knowing she is part celestial spirit, and I'll make sure she 'stumbles' across your key when she decides to become a celestial wizard."

"Then we have a deal. You must destroy the bound on the armlet, as it will kill Zodiac and I'll have avenged my fallen Sakura." Ophiuchus hissed

"Yes, now I cannot break the seal on your daughter's vessel you put her in, but when my power starts to return to its former glory, I will open her vessel. After that she is no longer my concern, you understand?" Zeref clarified, coldly.

"Yes." Ophiuchus agreed. He didn't need his daughter caught up in Zeref's scheming.

Ophiuchus faded into the spirit realm, taking one last look at his daughter. He shed one last cold tear before letting the darkness take over; turning him into the black as night and nightmare inducing snake he now prefers to be.

 ****400 years later*****

Virgo was there to meet Lucy and Loke with Celestial clothes. Lucy instructed Virgo to gather everyone together while she changed into her clothes. She didn't have much time, in fact, only 1 hour as 1 day in the celestial world equals 3 months on Earthland.

After Lucy emerged in her new clothes, everyone gathered. Lucy went on to explain the situation.

"So after hearing everything, I wanted all of you to decide with me. I can't make this decision on my own as it would be selfish of me to do that."

The spirits fell silent not knowing what to say. Surprisingly, Aries spoke up first. "If I can speak, Lucy, I really don't want to lose you as my master… no…my friend. I feel like I speak for everyone when I say this; we love you Lucy. You are the best master we've been contracted to and I worry about the next one not being able to fill what you will leave behind. I choose not to risk that chance of having someone like my previous master" The other spirits agreed.

"Miss Lucy, I would gladly have you break my key in order to destroy the evil that threatens you now, but I agree with Aries. I don't want to risk a ruthless master being contracted to me. I'd rather my key be shattered and never be able to be called upon again before Id have another master" Capricorn stated.

The other spirits agreed. Tears pricked at Lucy's eyes. They all meant the world to her.

When Lucy looked up, the celestial King had entered their meeting.

"If that is what you all wish, there is a way to shatter celestial keys" the King began. "I know Zodiac, as we have been close friends since the beginning of time. He was the one who consulted all of us 400 years ago when he created that weapon to convince us breaking our keys was the only way to defeat Zeref and Acnologia. We all agreed to it then and all agree to it now. But in terms of the spirits being worried about a new master, there is a way to shatter the keys, freeing the celestial spirits from ever being summoned again. Look at the armlet Lucy. Do you see those slots? There's 12 of them; each representing a key slot. For the weapon to function, all you really need is 1 key broken per element that you wish to control. However, if all 3 keys of that element are broken, the keys shatter, never being able to be summoned again as the bond between star and the element cannot be repaired as the bonds are completely broken." The king turn towards the Celestial Spirits "You will permanently become a part of your constellation and the celestial world. And Lucy, when keys are shattered you may never summon them again; if all of them shatter, then when you die, you will join us all in the celestial realm making you a 14th zodiac constellation, as the 14th zodiac has a restriction of being formed by only a blood relation to Zodiac."

"Wait. I'm a distant blood relative of Zodiac?" Lucy exclaimed.

"Yes. Didn't Zodiac explain that to you?" the King replied.

"No, he didn't; but maybe he wanted to hear my answer before he went any further with explanations. But that's beside the point; I want to rid this world of the evil it possesses. If you are all on board with it, so am I."

Everyone seemed happy with the solution. However, it was nearing on an hour and Lucy needed to get back to Earthland. The spirits came to see her off. But before she left, she was approached by Libra and Pisces to create contracts. Lucy felt honored that they wanted to make contracts with her even though she still felt at fault for Yukinos death.

"I only hope I can live up to the legacy she left behind" Lucy said with tears in her eyes.

At that moment Ophiuchus decided to slither up. "Let me make myself clear blondie" he hissed, "I will NEVER be a spirit you can call on. You are the reason my master is dead. You may hold my key, but I will never be summoned or contract myself to the likes of _you_." And with that Ophiuchus slithered off.

Lucy, shocked, fell to her knees crying. Loke rushed to her side. "Don't take it personally Lucy. Yukino was the only master Ophiuchus ever had. Give him time and I'm sure he will come around." Lucy rubbed the tears from her eyes. "Alright. Take me back Loke. Zodiac is probably expecting me any moment."

"As you wish, beautiful," Loke replied.

* * *

Ophiuchus slithered away, disgusted by what he saw. Zeref contacted him not to long ago, catching him up on what happened to his daughter; Lucy pushed her into the path of Zeref's dagger. How could these spirits follow someone so vain? _Lucy murdered my daughter; I'll help Zeref obliterate her._ Ophiuchus thought to himself. _Now I have to avenge two people; my daughter and my true love_ _and Lucy Heartfilia's destruction_ _is how I will do it._ He let the darkness consume him even further. "I'll wait to make my move, and I'll end Lucy and Zodiac for what they did to me." And for the first time in 400 years, Ophiuchus smiled.


	5. Chapter 5

**BOOM Another chapter. This time its 30 minutes apart instead of 30 days. Please read Chapter 4 if you came straight here! :)**

Lucy lost Loke on the way back to Earth land this time while leaving the Celestial Realm. This was a new first for Lucy, she took a moment to appreciate the scenery and the vastness of this universe; she felt so small in comparison to the stars she had always admired.

 _I had always enjoyed just looking at the stars here; I never feel alone, and if I needed anything, the stars were only a call away; Earth's stars feel so distant and cold. Here I feel the warmth._

Lucy turned around. "Hello Zodiac"

 _Greetings Lucy, I intercepted you while you were traveling back with Loke. I had been well beyond 3 days on Earth land so I came looking for you and figured I'd wait until after your meeting. I take it you decided to continue your journey with this weapon._

"Yes" Lucy confirmed. "But I still have questions that need answers, like why you didn't tell me you're my distant relative, or the fact that if all my spirits decide to break their bonds, I become a spirit when I die?"

 _I didn't tell you I was a distant relative because I didn't want you to agree out of the fact that we are related and felt you had to be responsible for ending what I started; I wanted you to agree because you want to save your loved ones and everyone else. Those emotions and relationships are what will propel you to learn and defeat the evil._

Zodiac continued,

 _And to answer your second question, I had always intended to have 14 zodiacs. I was to be the 14_ _th_ _. I created and loved all my celestial beings and had always intended to send them back to the stars even before I created the weapon. Before I became the first Celestial wizard as a boy I was fascinated with the stars and vast galaxies. I wanted to spend my life exploring them. I then studied all I could about magic and the stars, and one day created 12 zodiacs from pure star matter. They took me to explore the different universes and we all became the closest of friends. But when evilness spread across Earthland, I had to intervene and thus creating the weapon. I knew my time on Earthland then was limited, and I ensured my immortality by creating a 14_ _th_ _zodiac spot using the same spell I created for the others;_

 _Purest Star_

 _Light and Guider_

 _I bind thee to this Earthland form_

 _From Water, Earth, Fire and Wind,_

 _You leave the heavens_

 _To be here on Earth_

 _A human presence._

 _I_ _attempted it a couple of times before I made the weapon, but there seemed to be something wrong with the spell as I would never turn into a celestial spirit. To this day, the spot in the night sky is empty, as that is the spot the remains of the spell are until it is completed. I figured in order for me to actually fill it was when I died, and am in the purest form of my matter. But that doesn't matter, as I will never see that day. Because I am joined with this weapon, it tainted my matter, and I shall forever be bound to this instrument._

 _But because you are my blood, you will fill that spot upon your death when all the spirits break their bonds and return to this sky. This place forever._

Lucy stared off into the Realm's distance. She could spend eternity here with the spirits.

"What about Ophiuchus? You said you created 12 spirits, but he is the 13th. I need to learn more about him"

 _That spirit I did create, but not out of Pure star matter. The star I had chosen for him I was unaware was dying. When I was casting the spell, the star exploded into a black hole. I fought hard to keep the spell alive, and after almost letting it go, the dark matter bent to my hold after infusing it with the light of Earthland, and created the 13_ _th_ _zodiac. He was much different than the others; he was selfish, disobedient, and didn't abide by the laws set out by the celestial king and myself. He betrayed me and thus resulting in being cursed with the omen of misfortune to those he was cast upon and held by. I never found his key; it disappeared for 400 years. When Yukino found his key I turned my attention to her for a while. She struggled to call him from where ever in the celestial realm he was, but when he did come through the gate, he wasn't the spirit I created, but a monster his sentence made him into._

Zodiac lifted Ophiuchus' key from Lucy's pouch telepathically and shattered it into 3 pieces.

 _I'm making sure no one finds these pieces. Death follows this key, and now that he is not bound to a contract, I will make sure he never is again._

Lucy gasped.

 _Child you cannot fret over this; his fate was sealed decades ago when he broke celestial law._

 _Now, I'll send you back to Earthland. Lucy, you need to seek out the wizard Oasis. He is the wizard Mr. Star had set out to meet with. He is the instructor you need to teach you how to harness your new power and to use the weapon. His family has been guarding the blue prints of this weapon for centuries, and knows everything about it. He will show you how to harness the power of the elements. The armlet will show you where you can find him. When you are ready to learn the element of water, I will show you where Aquarius' key lays._

* * *

Lucy woke up on a patch of soft green grass. She looked up at the sunny sky and closed her eyes again, letting the warm rays splash upon her face. She tangled her fingers in the long grass and took a deep breath in. A smiled found its way across her face. "I'll miss this when I leave" she thought. Suddenly, Lucy felt the ground vibrating and shot her eyes upon. "LUCY!" she sat up and saw a figure running towards her. Natsu? _How did he find me so fast?_ "I knew I could smell you!" He picked her up and hugged her. They pulled away from each other and Natsu put his forehead against Lucy's. "It's been 8 days. Did you miss your meeting?"

"No, I got pulled into it right after my talk with the Spirits. Sorry I was gone so long." She smiled.

"Well I'm starving! Let's find some food back at Sabertooth. Happy is here too, he showed up a couple days ago."

"Great! I bet the rest of you are probably wanting to head back to Fairy Tail soon" she suggested.

"What do you mean the rest of us? Aren't you coming back with us?"

"No Natsu. My training begins with a wizard named Oasis, and I have to find him with this" she says while holding up the armlet.

"Not before you get that eye looked at Missy! Promise me you'll come back with us and get Porlyusica to look at it before we go to find your wizard." Natsu playfully snarled back

" I don't have time Natsu," Lucy said seriously, " I don't care what my eye looks like; Wendy fixed it well enough. I need to carry on."

" What do you need to carry on with?" Gray said, suddenly appearing into view with Erza and Happy.

Lucy huffed and rolled her eyes. Natsu caught her and said " We treat each other all like family here. You can't even try to tell us we aren't allowed to go."

"Fine." Lucy submissively replied and filled the other two in on her meetings with Zodiac and the celestial spirits.

" So you're going to learn how to control the elements? That sounds dangerous." Gray finally said after letting all the news hit him.

" Well Who better to help motivate you with your training Lucy? I will show you how I discipline myself with my training that led me to become the S class wizard I am today" Erza replied with determination in her eyes that terrified Lucy on the inside. " That's a scary thought" Natsu whispered to Lucy, while Gray nodded in agreement.

" Care to speak up Natsu?" Erza demanded.

" No Ma'am" Natsu, and for some reason Gray as well, said together. Erza shot them a killer stare and both hugged each other. " We set off to find this wizard, but first, let us return to Sabertooth and prepare for our quest." Erza said, clearly taking charge.

 **** AT Sabertooth *****

" Thank you so much for giving us what we need for our journey" Lucy said to Sting and the rest of the guild hall.

" Anything for a friend" Sting replied. " Where do you go now?"

Everyone looked at Lucy, who sulked down a bit. " I.. ugh… don't know haha!" she shyly said out loud.

" Well, Im staying here and eating until Lucy figures it out, I don't want to wonder about starving for days on end. I already did that on Natsu's training mission!" Happy exclaimed.

" That's not true Happy, I kept you well fed." Natsu hissed back

" Tell that to the lack of fishy's that weren't in my belly none of the time we were away" Happy spat back.

While Natsu and Happy kept yelling at each other, Gray managed to get into the argument too, which resulted in a fight breaking out and Erza getting involved. Then they all wish for the sweet release of death as Erza scolded them.

" Maybe Happy is right," Lucy interrupted the verbal torture Erza was inflicting upon the three, " We should stay until I figure out where to go."

" Alright!" Happy said cheerfully.

The exceed and the other plopped down at a table and Lucy stared at her armlet. " _How was this thing going to show me where to find Oasis?_ Frustrated, Lucy left the hall to go for a walk to clear her head. She found the spot where Natsu took her by the waterfall and sat on the rock. She closed her eyes and let her mind wander on the subject. _The armlet will show you_ kept ringing in her head. After a while of no answers or ideas, Lucy jumped off the rock in a bad mood and kicked a small rock while walking back toward the guild hall. The rock skipped forward and then took a quick left and kept skipping, as if it had infinite energy to keep moving. _Show you the way_ came back into Lucy's mind. She figured it out and a huge smile sprang on her face as she ran back to the hall.

" GUYS!" she yelled while slamming the doors open. " I figured it out!" and she ran over to them grabbing Natsu's arm "Hurry! Get your stuff I'll meet you outside."

After scrambling to get their packs, and in Erza's case, the 50 parts of luggage she packed, they met her outside.

"Watch!" Lucy kicked another rock and it skipped, turning right suddenly, and kept skipping on. Smiling, she said " Lets go!" and they all chased after the rock.

* * *

After a hour at a jogging pace, Gray sarcastically said, " Can you get this thing to move slower, or kick a larger rock so my neck doesn't hurt from looking at the ground constantly."

Lucy stopped and rolled her eyes. Natsu spoke up " What the ice princess cant handle a bit of a stiff neck?"

" How about I show you how stiff my fist is by hitting your face flame brain!" Gray hissed back.

While those tow where fighting, Lucy couldnt help but agree with Gray. Chasing a rock wasn't ideal. She casually said outloud, "The forest should just separate in the path of where Oasis is" and right after she said that, the earth shook a bit and the grass and trees bend to the sides, creating a path. The small quake stopped the others from fighting and they looked at the forest ahead of them. Too shocked to move, the group just stared. Lucy looked down at the armlet, slightly horrified at the power of it. She gulped before stepping forward. " L…L…Lets go I guess" and the others followed as slowly and silently.

It wasn't long before the gang started talking, getting use to the trees and rocks and grass shifting out of the way for them. Erza and Gray discussing battles and Natsu and Happy constantly whining to stop for fish. Lucy was ahead of them, scanning the trail ahead, deep in thought when they approached a rock face.

"Dammit! A Dead end" Gray spoke.

" Why doesn't this rock move like the others to show a path?" Erza asked out loud.

Lucy approached the face and touched it, " I don't know." She said softly. She turned back to face the others only to find them encased in vines. She could hear the muffled yells and clawing from outside. She ran over to the first one and started pulling at the vines, only making them restrict more. Lucy panicked and pulled harder, resulting in louder screams from the victim inside.

She stopped and backed away from the vines. The vines loosened a bit and Lucy noticed. She need to breath and think. She said to the vines, " Loosen and let my friends go!" the vines loosened more, but didn't release them. _Okay that worked a little._ In a more commanding tone, she told the vines to free her friends. They then broke and disappeared into the ground.

" What the FUCK was that?!" Gray yelled.

Natsu and Happy were laying on the ground trying to catch their breath. Erza, bent over also catching her breath said " Lucy why did you do that?"

" I didn't do anything! I didn't summon those vines!" Lucy defended herself.

" why did they attack us? " Natsu asked still laying on the ground.

"It was a test" said a voice from behind them. Turning around sharply, the gang saw Warrod approaching them.

" Warrod, did you do this?" demanded Erza

" Yes child, I did. I had to test the chosen one Lucy over here to see if she was capable of controlling the vines. Controlling the earth element requires one to be strong, rigid and firm with their commands and magic."

" How do you know I was the one to test?" Lucy asked.

"That armlet you're wearing is how. Last night I had a dream I would meet someone here, and show them the way to Oasis."

" You're going to show us the way?!" Lucy exclaimed

"Yes, he is just in the middle of this mountain." Warren said warmly.

They laughed. " That's ridiculous. How can someone survive in a mountain?" Natsu giggled at the old wizard.

Without sparing a single moment, Warrod cut into the mountain face. Everyone went quiet, jaws agape.

Warrod turned to face the awe struck wizards. "Like I was saying Lucy, strong, rigid and firm. Your turn"

Lucy looked down at the armlet and closed her eyes for a moment. She felt the energy coming from the rock face; it hummed almost silently in her ears; a deep strong hum, like a chorus of baritone singers. She locked onto the sound, and opened her eyes only to discover her vision changed, she saw the bonds that held the mountain together. She recognized the bonds as celestial matter and called upon her spirits Capricorn, Taurus and Virgo.

Each one smiled. And approached her; " Its time you use our keys to fully understand and control the element. We will see you in the stars, Miss Lucy."

Lucy shook her head, " It's too soon! I cannot let you go so early. I haven't even started training yet!"

" Yes you have princess" Virgo stated with a smile.

Lucy put their keys in the armlet and looked up with tears in her eyes, " This isn't goodbye, just a small break until we reunite forever" she said.

With the keys in the armlet, the 3 spirits begun to break the bonds holding the rocks of the mountain together. Gray, Erza, Natsu and Happy witnessed the mountain start to crumble away in two piles. After the dust cleared, the path lead to a lush green forest. Lucy's 3 spirits appeared in front of her. Taurus winked at her. Then Lucy heard a small _Click_ and saw that the armlet had detached the tops of the keys from the shafts of the keys. The tops faded into dust along with the spirits. Lucy waved to her spirits as they vanished. Then, the armlet glowed brightly and Lucy's arm started burning, she screamed.

Natsu went to run to her side, but a capsule of powerful vines consumed Lucy.

"Lucy!" Natsu screamed while trying to power through the vines strong hold on her.

A bright light shone from the vines and Natsu sprang away, almost blinded. The Light died down and revealed Lucy, laying on the ground. Everyone ran to her side, including Warrod.

" What did you do Warrod? Another test?!" Natsu snapped

" No! I had no idea this was to transpire" Warrod replied.

Lucy opened her eyes after a couple minutes. Erza was the first to speak. " What happened Lucy?"

" I don't really know. All I remember is calling on my spirits to break the bonds holding the mountain together; breaking their bonds to their element with the armlet. Then they faded away, and I was consumed by the vines and felt my strength return." She explained.

"Natsu! Look at her eye!" Happy pointed at Lucy's face

" Whoa! Your clear eye is green!" Natsu stated.

" What? How?" Gray wondered.

"You must make your way to Oasis; he, I'm sure, will answer your questions young wizards" Warrod suggested.

Helping Lucy to her feet, the gang made their way into where the mountain used to be. Warrod waved goodbye. _I hope she understands and appreciates just how powerful she is going to become._ Warrod smiled to himself. He couldn't imagine anyone being a better pick then Lucy Heartfilia, the kind soul.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello again! Im trying to get in as many updates as I can, as I will be disappearing for a while to play the newest Zelda Title on Friday. haha :) I also wanted to point out a couple mistakes in the names in the previous Chapter; in my haste to post, I didn't catch that auto correct changed Warrod to Warren, so if you read that version I apologize and I edited it to make sense. Warren = Warrod! Sorry! Anyway enjoy!**

The group arrived at the edge of the forest. They hadn't said much during the hike there as everyone was still processing the enormous power Lucy now held, and Lucy didn't talk much as she was still wondering if sacrificing her celestial spirits was a good idea. Seeing those three go was really difficult for her, and she didn't know if she could go through that again. With the first few steps into the forest everyone realized how beautiful it was. The greens in the leaves and trees were fresh and bright, and the grass was lush and thick. Happy decided to walk instead of fly as the grass felt good on his paws. They continued to walk through until the forest opened into a lagoon where they saw a man sitting on a dock not too far away. He looked like he was mediating.

"Hello!" Lucy called out. "Do you know where we can find someone named Oasis?"

The man opened his eyes sharply, "I am the one you seek. What do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

" Our friend here possesses the weapon Zodiac created decades ago and he informed us you were the only one who could teach Lucy here how to wield such a powerful weapon." Erza stated back.

"Is that so?" He paused a moment "Make your way inside and we'll talk some more, otherwise all this yelling is going to scare the fish" Oasis replied.

" Oh I wonder what kinds of exotic fish swim in there!" Happy wondered out loud.

"Who cares about some fish? We are here for Lucy remember?" Gray said to Happy coldly.

Happy looked at the ground, feeling guilty. Natsu chimed in " Hey don't worry about that ice prick Happy, I'm sure the man will let us professionals fish here!" and gave Happy a toothy grin.

"Aye sir!" Happy said back excitedly.

 *****Inside Oasis' place*****

Lucy looked around amazed at how large Oasis' quarters were. It was made out of the roots that stuck out of the ground from a massive tree. There were white wooden walk ways, almost like a deck but smoother, that lead to various rooms, all of which sat out near the water's edge. The moss that enveloped some of the roots had purple twinkling flowers growing out, that glowed a brightness that was just light enough to see where to walk.

Oasis meet them and invited the gang into where what appeared to be a kitchen was. They all sat around the table and Oasis poured the tea.

" I've been waiting a long time for your arrival" He said, kind eyes looking at Lucy.

" It doesn't look like you've been waiting a while sir" Happy said with a giggle. Happy was right, the man up close looked young. He had gray and white hair that was back in a low pony tail that went to the middle of his back. He had a young, clean shaven face, kind green eyes and he wore earth tone robes, which seemed to very subtly change earth tone colors in different lighting. He didn't look much older than Erza or Jellal

"Yea, the only old thing about you is your hair" Natsu crossed his arms and leaned back defensively.

Oasis smiled. "I am immortal; I cannot be killed by time or disease. Only by the hands of evil. I am over three thousand years old, and was trusted with the secrets of that weapon long ago by Zodiac himself. For being my age, I'm surprised as you are that its only my hair that gives away my age."

" I'm surprised you even have hair for being that old" Natsu teased.

" Don't be rude Natsu!" Erza hissed. Natsu sat straight up and Gray shook his head.

" What can you tell us about this weapon?" Lucy asked, slightly embarrassed by the others.

" Ah yes, the Agoroth. That is the name I gave it when I started studying it. As you must have already experienced, it separates the bonds of Celestial Spirits and their earthly element to give the user the ability to control the elements. Tell me Lucy, why did you summon Virgo, Taurus and Capricorn when you were trying to bond the celestial bonds of the mountain?

" I.. don't really know" She thought a moment and then continued, " I think I choose them because the bonds looked strong, and reminded me Taurus' axe was probably strong enough to cut them. Then I thought Virgo, because she dug tunnels and understands rocks well enough to know how to break them apart. And finally I choose Capricorn for his wisdom and knowledge to coordinate Taurus and Virgo to make the most precise cuts. But I thought all that in the blind of an eye."

"Yes, because you heard the song of the mountain. Only the wielder of the Agoroth could hear that song then see the bonds between element and celestial magic. Every time you unlock the power of an element, the celestial energy released grants you a gift. This time the gift was the ability to see celestial bonds holding elements together. Before you gain control of an element, you have to free it from it's celestial bonds as you know. These areas where you find the bonds are where Zodiac created the celestial spirits of that element. Zodiac created this mountain when he created Virgo, Taurus and Capricorn."

Oasis continued, " With that said, breaking those bonds requires immense magic power, which is why you have to sacrifice your keys. Earth was the easiest; it will only be more of a challenge from here. Even before you have broken the bonds, you must first tame the element before it shows you the bonds. It's the protective nature of the element."

" So, I have to pass a test, each time, like when the vines encapsulated my friends and I had to control it. That was already pretty difficult, I can't imagine how difficult the others will be" Lucy moaned.

" But that is why you have come to train with Oasis; he is going to show you how to tame elements with other elements. You must discipline yourself Lucy!" Erza abruptly said, which scared everyone.

" Y…yes. Precisely young lady." Oasis said.

" I'm Erza Scarlet, the shirtless one is Gray Fulbuster, the Pink haired one is Natsu Dragneel, and the blue cat is Happy."

"Nice to finally have some names to the faces. Now we must rest, as tomorrow is a busy day of training, and you need rest." Oasis stood up heading out of the kitchen. " There's more than enough rooms for you to choose from. Choose whichever you prefer." Then he disappeared into the hallway.

" Alright everyone. Find your rooms and get plenty of rest. We all need to support Lucy tomorrow with her training, and Lucy, you need to have a sharp mind for tomorrow" Erza said.

"Aye sir" Happy said and flew out the door. Everyone left to explore the rest of the house.

* * *

Lucy walked down the hall a bit until she found herself standing in front of giant wooden doors with stars carved into them. _Perfect_ she thought and opened them. When she entered the room, it was way larger than her apartment back in Magnolia. The doors opened up to a sitting or reading area with white wooden sofas which had the comfiest looking pillows on them. There was a huge opening in the wall Lucy figured was like a bay window to look over the Lagoon. She continued to explore more. She wondered down a hallway to her left that lead into the biggest room she'd seen. It had an enormous bed that was just begging to be jumped into. Off in one of the furthest corners, there was a roomy hot spring in the floor, with a waterfall running into the spring. Lucy reached out her hand to touch the waterfall, and it was hot. She smiled. _This is my favourite thing about this place._

She exited the bedroom and continue back to the sitting area, and headed down the hall to the right this time. She was lead out onto a dock on the water. Lucy dipped her feet into the lagoon water and felt refreshed. She closed her eyes and felt the magic energy around her. She opened her eyes and looked carefully around. _I don't see the others from here, I'm going to dip in_ Lucy peeled off her clothes which was so freeing. She carefully lowered herself into the lake, which was surprisingly warm and swam just around her private dock, wary the others saw her if she swam too far out. Lucy floated on top of the water looking up at the night sky through the opening in the trees and felt the energy of the starts upon her. She found Virgo, Taurus and Capricorns constellations and smiled. She would never forget them, even Taurus who was a pervert up to the end. Lucy rolled her eyes at the thought of him winking at her.

After what felt like a long dip, she headed back to the dock, only to see Natsu sitting with his feet in the water.

"Nice choice, but I like my room better. It has a fire I can just keep feasting on that never runs out. But they nailed your room with the hot spring. You're never going to show up for training with that in your room" He laughed.

Lucy approached the dock. " How long have you been standing there?!"

"Long enough" Natsu eyed Lucy, who immediately covered herself with her hands. " You're cute when you're shy."

"Look away! I'm naked!" Lucy growled at him

" I know" he replied, lustfully. "Say please for me"

Lucy sighed. " Please"

Natsu obliged, turning his back. Lucy sprang up onto the dock and put her clothes on lightning fast, only to realize Natsu was walking away with her shirt. "If you want this, you'll have to come get it."

Lucy ran after him. She ran past the study and into her room, but couldn't find him anywhere. He jumped out from behind the bedroom door and shut her in. Lucy turned quickly. "Found me" Natsu smiled his signature toothy smile and Lucy blushed. He pulled her into himself by her hips. " Now maybe that ice freak won't interrupt us this time" he whispered hotly in her ear. He started kissing her neck, nibbling on her ear as well. Lucy let out an approving moan.

Natsu felt that primal instinct rise, and flipped her so she was against the door now. She ran her fingers through his pink hair while he continued to suck on her neck. He dragged his teeth over her pulse in her neck and let out a low growl. She pulled at his vest. "If I'm not wearing a top, neither should you." And she ripped his vest off and threw it on the floor.

Lucy traced her fingers along his chest and toned abs. that was enough to drive him crazy. _I'm going to make her beg for me_ Natsu decided and pinned her hands above her head with one hand then ripping off her bra with the other. Her voluptuous breasts sprang out, like they were begging to be released from their double D cup prison. He grazed one nipple lightly with his thumb and Lucy stiffened. She closed her eyes, trying hard not to give in to the pure pleasure he was putting her through. Natsu upped the ante and kissed her clavicles. Her soft moans were making him hard, but he wasn't going to cave that fast. His hand that was exploring those breast started traveling south, just tracing the top of her skirt. "What do you want?" he whispered in Lucy's ear, then biting it.

She turned towards his ear and whispered, "I'm not giving in that fast" as she was enjoying her sweet torture.

Still pinning her arms above her head, Natsu lifted up her left leg with his left hand, and placed his hips inside her legs, supporting her up. He slowly grazed his left hand up the outside of her thigh, pushing the bottom of her skirt up until he had a handful of her ass. He slowly started to grind his hips in hers, and she felt his hardness grow even more. Natsu unpinned her hands and Lucy locked her legs around his hips as he held her up, carrying her towards the bed. He put her down on the bed, and again, placed himself between her legs. Lucy grabbed his face and pulled him into her and kissed him hard. Natsu returned the favor, forcing his tongue into her sweet mouth. He wondered if her mouth tasted this good, how _something_ else would taste. His hands worked her engorged breasts, pinching and tracing circles around her nipples. She moaned louder than before and Natsu wanted to see if he could get her to scream.

One of Natsu's hands traveled further south, and discovered her center, which was soaked through her panties.

"Oh my, someone is ready." He said and Lucy blushed. Natsu ripped off her remaining clothes and for the first time, looked at her pussy. It was so pink and precious, and everything inside him was telling him to make it his. Lowering himself on the bed, he came face to face with her entrance, and slowly stuck a finger inside. It felt tight, and Lucy moaned her hands rushing to her chest, rubbing her own nipples to distract herself from the teasing he was inflicting onto, or rather, _into_ her.

Natsu started slowly, licking circles around her bundle of nerves. Lucy kept bucking her hips up into him, so he put one of his arms across them, pinning her lower body to the bed. As he continued to tease, Lucy was on the verge of insanity. Then Natsu slide another finger in her, rubbing her rough spot inside. Lucy moaned louder, grabbing handfuls of the sheets, "Don't stop" and Natsu nibbled on her clit, which sent her to the moon. She screamed his name and he tasted her orgasm.

Greedily, he wanted to pluck that flower. He kissed Lucy and said, " That's what you taste like" That was so sexy for Lucy, she begged him to take her. And he had every intention to.

Natsu started to take off his pants, slowly just to tease Lucy more, but was stopped when he felt something cold graze his cheek. A sword plunged into the head board, scaring both of the lovers.

" We are supposed to be getting a good sleep you two" Erza said coldly from the doorway.

Lucy quickly covered up. "What are you doing here? Doesn't the same go for you?" Natsu growled at Erza, testosterone still pumping through him.

"I heard Lucy scream and came here to see what the matter was. Now that I know, it's time to remove you Natsu."

Erza dragged Natsu out by his ear. " See you in the morning Lucy" Erza said as she walked out with a whining Natsu.


	7. Chapter 7

**HELLO AGAIN! I have risen from the breath of the wild. That game is so addicting. Anyway! Sorry for my absent presence; Im going to try to update this weekishly haha! Enjoy!**

Day one of training was difficult for Lucy to say the least. Not only did she have to roll out of bed early, but her tumble with Natsu the night before left her feeling slightly drained. Natsu looked hung over sitting on the other end of the kitchen table while the gang all ate a silent breakfast.

"Natsu, you look exhausted, is this place too good for your dirty ass?" Gray teased. Any other day, Natsu would have defended himself, but the headache was almost too much to handle on its own; it was like he was having a hormone hangover. Lucy looked over and blushed, letting out a small giggle. She then caught Erza's death stare and immediately looked down at her breakfast.

" Good morning young wizards! Hope you all are well rested for today's training session." Oasis addressed them, almost too chipper for Natsu's liking. "When you all are done eating, come meet me in the forest, the flowers will show you the way." And Oasis turned and left the kitchen.

" The flowers will show us the way? Ugh I'm so not into this hippy shit" Gray said, shaking his head.

"Shut up Gray, we are here for Lucy." Erza hissed.

After the gang had finished breakfast, or in Natsu's case, destroyed breakfast, they headed out into the forest. As Oasis promised, the flowers did show them the way; they lit up the trail when Lucy walked by.

"Just when I think I can't become any more amazed, something amazing happens!" Erza said.

"Yea well I'm about ready to stop being surprised. Why can't something entirely predictable happen." Gray said, annoyed.

" Because, dear boy, if everything was predictable, we wouldn't be able to experience amazement, or learn to adapt, or appreciate routine" Oasis said, coming up behind them.

Slightly embarrassed, Gray kicked a rock. They all walked together until they came across a clearing. It was a strange feeling for Lucy, because everywhere up until this point felt so alive and lush, and this place felt like death. Nothing grew for acres, and it made Lucy feel uneasy inside.

" This is where your training begins Lucy. I've brought you here to show you how to control the earth. After Zodiac created this forest within the mountain, he would come here from time to time adding more life to the desolate environment. He never finished however as his involvement in the great war took him away from here. You will help bring life to this area, adding your own beauty to this haven." Oasis continued, " First focus your mind like you did earlier with the mountain side; you won't be searching for a song, as that was the celestial magic you heard, but rather use your gift to see the particles in the dirt here, and re arrange them into something green."

Lucy closed her eyes and focused her mind. A golden aura appeared around her and the others stepped back, worried about getting caught up in all that power.

" I sense immense magic power building" Erza said

" Me too, I'm expecting something major to happen. She cut down a mountain earlier remember?" Gray stated back

" Oh I'm all fired up! All this energy is making me want to fight!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Aye Sir!" Happy agreed.

Suddenly the aura disappeared and Lucy fell to her knees. " I couldn't do it, it's too hard" she felt embarrassed that Oasis had to witness that.

"Lucy, look again. Look what you created!" Oasis gleamed.

Lucy looked at the ground, there was a singular blade of grass that stood half an inch out of the dirt.

"WHAT?!" the others were dumbfounded. Happy laughed, rolling on the ground with Natsu.

"Can it Cat!" Lucy spat at them. She could hardly stand.

Gray spoke " She cut down an entire mountain yesterday! How can this be?!"

"Destroying is easier than creating in the magical world. Destruction only involves pulling things apart versus creating something takes destruction and rearrangement of the element. Creation takes patience, focus and disipline" Oasis answered.

" Yea, How long did it take you to create your first snowflake Gray? Or you to create Fire Natsu?" Erza argued. They all stopped, slightly humiliated.

Lucy rose to her feet. _It's going to take me decades to fill this space one grass blade at a time. And how is this going to help me defeat Zeref, unless his ultimate weakness is short lengths of grass_ Lucy thought.

Lucy continued her training with Oasis while the others took off to explore the forest.

"Remember what Warrod told you Lucy, you have to be strong, rigid and firm with the element."

After the day was done, Lucy had created a mere 6 grass blades all at varying heights. She huffed and sat on the ground. Oasis smiled to himself. " Don't get discouraged child, it will come to you one day. Let's call it a day."

* * *

When Lucy and Oasis arrived at the house, the others were out in the lagoon, swimming and fishing. Shouts and laughter filled the forest. Lucy looked at her friends. She always felt she was the weakest one on the team, and now she felt it more than ever. _Gray can create anything out of ice, and Natsu is pretty much humanized fire, and Erza well, is extremely powerful and skilled and here I am, exhausted after making 6 blades of grass._ She half heartily thanked Oasis and went straight to her room, and sat staring out onto the lagoon, deep in thought until sleep pricked at her eyes. Lucy had a bath in her hot spring. The hot water felt good on her tired body and mind. However when Lucy got into bed, the disappointment of the day kept her up tossing and turning. _Well I'm not getting any sleep here, maybe I should go take a walk._

Quietly sneaking outside, Lucy started the hike towards the clearing she was training at earlier that day. The forest felt much more alive at night as the dim glow from the plants welcomed her in their home. Lucy stopped and appreciated all the beautiful flowers and plants and they seemed to lean into her touch. She finally arrived at the clearing and looked up at the starry night sky.

 _Creating Celestial contracts was so easy. Making friends out of my spirits was the most natural feeling for me. I love every single one of them._

As tears streamed down Lucy's face and hit the ground, a flower sprang up out of the ground where a tear had fallen, it was a golden rose, and grew up towards Lucy's hand, gently wrapping it's vines around her fingers and wrist. Startled, Lucy looked down at the beautiful flower and smiled at it. All the sudden, it became clear to her what she had to do. Lucy stood up and walked into the middle of the barren land.

" Did you check all the rooms Gray?!" Erza firmly asked

"For the thousandth time, yes!"

"Where could they be?" Erza wondered.

"Well I saw Natsu head down the path we hiked yesterday" Happy said, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he flew in the room.

" Well why didn't you say anything earlier Cat?!" Gray snapped

"Because you didn't ask!" Happy spat back.

"Lets not waste anymore time arguing and head over immediately!" Erza commanded the two.

* * *

When Natsu went in to scare Lucy in the middle of the night, he jumped onto an empty bed. Slightly worried, he decided to sniff her out. When he got to the path, he smelt something entirely new. His pace quickened _Im coming for you Lucy! Hang on!_ He thought, worried about her safety. When he arrived at the end of the path, there was no desolate area; there were instead, lush trees and grass softer than any of the grass in the forest that Natsu had explored. There were an array of flowers and trees that produced great smelling fruits. Natsu slowed his pace to take in the new territory; it all smelt like Lucy.

When Natsu finally found Lucy, she was planting a golden rose into the center of the newly established forest.

"Done" she said with a smile.

"You did this all in one night?!" Natsu exclaimed, quite impressed.

"Yes! It all came clear to me last night when I arrived here. I cannot _control_ the earth; I don't possess the great power to do so. When I thought of my spirits, I never controlled them, they were my friends and we all loved one another and our power was strong because of our bonds with each of my spirits. I did the same here. The love I had for my spirits I channeled into my magic and bonded with the earth. Together we created this part of the forest as I remembered what Warrod told me; Strong, firm, and rigid. That wasn't what I need to control the element, it's what I needed my bond with it to be. Strong like the trees, firm like the roots of all the plants, and rigid like the rocks that create the mountains."

Natsu looked at Lucy with admiration. He knew she wouldn't be the great mage she was becoming if it weren't for Fairy Tail and all the bonds created with everyone there. The fact that she applied those feelings to befriend an element was amazing to him.

"Well done child! This is probably the most beautiful part of the forest and the most sacred" Oasis said to Lucy, looking at the golden rose.

"Sacred? How so?" Lucy asked.

"It is said that golden roses only appear when the tears of the purest star fall on the earth. It is a sign of submission from the earth to the star, and the star to the earth."

"So that rose is the physical form of Lucy's friendship with the earth?" Natsu asked rubbing his head.

"Precisely my boy. And that is why, it is my new added duty to watch over it, along with the rest of the forest" Oasis said.

"This is a pretty sweet new addition Lucy" Gray said from a distance. Happy, and Erza travelled eagerly behind.

"Thanks, it's a big improvement on my 6 blades of grass from yesterday!" Lucy giggled.

"Impressive work Lucy, but now we enter the stages of training where you need to enter the next level of elemental control; creating weapons and defenses."

Lucy suddenly felt pumped up. " Im ready for that Oasis! Let's begin ASAP" She smiled, determined.

Oasis grinned. " I wont be teaching you child. This young man over here will." He said as he pointed to Gray.

"Wait! Why that ice princess?" Natsu spat in disgust

"Maybe because my maker magic compliments Lucy's new found magic ability, dragon breath" Gray said back, cooly.

"That is correct young man! And who better to teach Lucy in maker magic then her own fellow guild mate?" Oasis added to Gray's remark. " And with that, I have a forest to take care of, so I will leave you to your training" and Oasis left to explore the new addition Lucy created.

Natsu huffed. He hated the idea of that ice prick getting close to Lucy. Happy snapped him out of his train of thought by suggesting they go fishing. And so Erza, Natsu and Happy headed back to the lagoon for a day of fishing and relaxation.

* * *

Lucy rested her elbows on her knees. Gray's training had pushed her far outside her newly found limits, but she still smiled through the challenges he threw at her. Their last scrimmage resulted in Gray knocking Lucy on her ass for the fourth time. She laughed at how lame her defences and attacks were, and how he managed to blast through them quite easily. Gray caught her laugh and snapped. " You know Lucy, you should be taking this more seriously. Im showing you how my master, Ur, trained me when I was young, and your attitude is quite disrespectful."

Lucy silenced quite quickly. " Im so sorry Gray, I wasn't laughing at you or your magic; I was just laughing at how much of a great wizard you are, and how easily you broke through my magic."

Gray looked at the ground. " My magic is my life and my life has been full of pain especially in the beginning stages of me learning from Master Ur. As you know, the death of my parents, then Ur's sacrifice to stop Deliora, and then finding out five years ago with our last stand with Tartaros that my father was brought back from his eternal rest to only be sent back by Juvia, has taken its toll on me. And between you and me, I honestly thought of giving up magic altogether after that."

Lucy felt tears pricking at her eyes. Gray continued, " But I reached deep down, and told myself that giving up would be letting down my master and my family; my family I was born into and my family at Fairy Tail. I vowed I would destroy END for the suffering he put my father through." Gray turned away from Lucy and started down the path back to the house. " Find me when you grow up"

Lucy got up and ran after Gray, taking him by surprise when she hugged him. She was crying at this point. " Im so terribly sorry, not just for my actions, but for your struggles. We are family Gray, and to hear about your struggle was hard for me to listen to because you're my family."

Gray hugged her back, and for the first time in a while, he felt warmth in his heart that hadn't been there in a long time.

Lucy pulled away first. " Im ready, let's go another; one last round. I promise I wont disgrace you or your master." She stated sharply.

Gray smiled back. " Ice Make: Sword

* * *

After a long day of fishing and fighting with Happy and Erza, Natsu thought it had been too long since he heard from Gray or Lucy, and headed up the path to where they were training. In the distance he could hear the rumbling of earth and the crisp shatter of ice. _Oh I can't miss Lucy kicking that Ice princess's ass!"_ and he started running so he wouldn't miss anymore of the battle

Natsu arrived at the scene just in time to catch Lucy and Gray engaged in an intense brawl.

Gray was in mid air, coming down hard at Lucy with a giant two handed ice sword. Lucy quickly blocked his attack with a rock barrier that shot out of the ground. Gray made contact with the rock barrier and his sword broke. _No way_ Gray thought to himself. Lucy smiled at shot wooden spears at Gray, who easily dodged them. Gray, still taken back from his sword shattering decided he was going to go at Lucy with everything he had. "ICE MAKE CANNON" and blasted a direct hit right at Lucy.

Natsu was ready to intervene, screaming at Gray, " YOU"RE GOING TO KILL HER YOU BASTARD!" as he found himself running towards Lucy.

Lucy however accepted the challenge, and closed her eyes.

The blast hit, shaking the earth and creating a loud boom. When the smoke cleared, there was nothing but rubble left. Gray's heart sank as the panic set in. He started running over to the impact site, but right before he reached it, a cold sensation poked at his back. Gray turned around slowly to see Lucy standing, wielding a crazy looking sword.

"I believe I win this round" Lucy challenged.

"I believe you earned it" Gray replied, accepting his defeat

"THAT WAS AWESOME" Natsu yelled from not too far away. Lucy turned toward him and smiled. " Oh man! Right as I thought Lucy was going to be turned into a popsicle, she used her magic last second to push herself into the air by pushing the earth up quickly under her. The impact from your magic hit the earth instead of Lucy, making you think you hit her. Then while in the air, Lucy summoned that awesome sword and finished you Gray!" Natsu described, excitedly. " My turn Lucy! Fight me!" he immediately challenged.

"Im done for the day Natsu." Lucy said to him. She looked at her new weapon. " I think I am going to keep this" she said examining her work. It was a golden two handed sword that looked way too heavy for her to wield. The blade was all golden with a line of green gemstone that went up the center of the blade. The guard and handle were also golden but had green, gray, blue and red gemstones woven in very delicate vine line patterns. _I don't even remember seeing this in my mind._

The three headed back to the house, Natsu eager to tell the story of Gray's defeat. As Natsu ran ahead, Gray and Lucy walked back side by side, discussing different battle strategies and Gray giving Lucy some tips to better her new found maker magic.

After walking in some silence, Lucy broke it. " Hey Gray, thanks for the reality check; I really needed it shoved far up my ass." Gray laughed. " Hey, that's what I'm here for. I know you've been getting close with Natsu, and sometimes you need a different perspective than his." Lucy giggled, " Yes I agree, what you taught me was beyond amazing!" Both laughed, and continued to talk more about Lucy's training. She had completed enough maker magic in Gray's opinion.

 _".. I really needed it shoved far up my ass"_

 _"Hey that's what I'm here for. I know you've been getting close with Natsu and sometimes you need a different perspective."_

 _"Yes, what you taught me was beyond amazing!"_

Natsu over heard as he was circling back to insult Gray further about how he lost to Lucy. A ton of bricks hit him, and his stomach sank. He felt sick. His Lucy let someone like _Gray_ defile her. He turned back towards home base, his eyes turning an alarming shade of red.

* * *

Erza smiled, " So you defeated Gray in combat?!"

Lucy smiled proudly, " Yea, I guess I did."

Gray huffed at both the women, slouched against the kitchen doorway. " She only won cause I thought I killed her" he spat coldly

"A warrior always senses their enemy's presence, Gray. You've become sloppy" Erza teased, her gaze then came across Lucy's sword.

"Lucy! Where did you find that magnificent blade?!" Erza inquired.

" Oh I when I was fighting Gray, it appeared out of no where; I was actually going to ask Oasis about it." Lucy answered

As if on que, Oasis entered the kitchen . "Ah yes, the legendary sword of the earth."

Lucy smiled, " Just the person I wanted to talk to. So I didn't create this sword eh?"

" Well Lucy, Im afraid that's all I know about the matter, but your friend Erza here may be able to enlighten you on the weapon."

Lucy turned slowly towards Erza, who had a sparkle in her eye. "Yes, it is legend that sword was created by the earth close to the beginning of time, waiting for the soul who is capable of wielding it; It was rumored that sword can cut through anything; even _air"_ Erza explained.

Oasis nodded his head in agreement. " The warrior is correct; this blade is a powerful tool Lucy, I've never heard of anyone able to wield this sword. Any knowledge, aside from Erza's, is unknown unfortunately"

Lucy looked at the sword and admired it. " Thank you for your help you two! I know this is a first for everyone, considering that I've come the farthest in controlling all the elements; I feel like things from here on out are going to be new for all of us."

Natsu then entered the kitchen as everyone agreed to Lucy's statement, making a direct path toward the pantry, shoving his mouth full of whatever edible items he could find first.

" Natsu, don't be so rude" Erza scolded

Natsu didn't care to acknowledge Erza's words, and grabbed a handful of uncooked pasta and crackers before heading to his room, shooting Gray a look that sent shivers up his spine.

" That's a first," Lucy remarked, after Natsu left the kitchen.

" What the hell did you two do to the poor boy?" Erza asked

"Nothing" Gray continued " He saw us fight, and wouldn't shut up about how awesome it was. I think he is just moping because Lucy didn't fight him after he almost begged her to." Gray replied.

Erza along with Lucy and (even) Oasis agreed.

After everyone had finished catching up with Lucy's new magic abilities, they all decided to retire to their rooms. Erza convinced Lucy and Gray they all needed a day's rest, and no one disagreed. As they all said their rooms, Lucy wished Erza and Gray a good night, as it was early in the morning, and headed towards her room. She hesitated before opening her door. _Maybe I should check on Natsu before I go to sleep._ She thought. Slowly releasing her grip from her door knob, she walked further down the hallway, now finding herself in front of Natsu's door. Lucy took a deep breath in. She was really nervous for some reason, and had no idea why.

She knocked, ' Hey, Natsu!, it"s Lucy. Can I come in?"

"Yea sure" she got as a reply. Lucy opened the door, to find Natsu, packing up his belongings, with a distressed Happy flying around the room in a panic.

"Lucy! You gotta tell him to stay!" Happy exclaimed

Lucy looked over at Natsu, " What are you doing? We aren't leaving yet and Erza gave us strict orders to rest, and I intend on doing some serious-"

" Im leaving as soon as I pack" Natsu replied, cutting Lucy off

Tears stung Lucy's eyes. "But why?"

"Because I forgot I had a job I signed up for before this _trip_ , " Natsu replied, a bit of sting in his voice.

"Well isn't there a way to get in touch with the client and tell them you're still on a mission? I really need you here with me." She replied.

"Why would you need me here when you have Erza and _Gray_ to help you?" He turned towards her, emerald eyes piercing into her honey brown ones.

" Well, because I need you too, Natsu" Lucy said to him, wondering if the other night really meant anything or if she read too much into something that wasn't actually there.

"A promise is a promise; I can't go and make Fairy Tail look bad if I suddenly deny a job request I already promised to complete." Natsu said, voice unwavering.

"Well," Lucy started, " If you already agreed, I guess you have to go, don't you.."

"Yea, that's kinda how it works." Natsu replied.

Both just stared at each other, Happy flying just above them, looking down at both of the confused humans.

"Well, I hope you finish your mission fast so that you can come back here and continue with me here," Lucy replied, hoping for a particular response from the Dragon Slayer.

"I don't know how long this one may take… and depending on if you're done your mission here….I won't know where you are…..maybe it's best if we just say goodbye and look forward to reuniting in the future at some point." Natsu said, returning to his packing, which he was almost finished.

"O-okay then," Lucy stumbled out. She turned towards the door leading out. "Goodbye Natsu. Just make sure you tell the others you're leaving." She said softly.

"I will thanks," Natsu said coldly.

Lucy shut the door to his room before he finished his sentence. Tears were streaming down her face at this point. _How could I be so stupid? To think a wizard as strong as him cold ever be involved with someone like me? He was probably so embarrassed at the situation we found ourselves in the other night._ She thought as she made her way to her room.

* * *

Natsu felt a deep anger rise inside of him after Lucy left. _How could she even come in here and face me after what she did and pretend everything was good between us._ His wrapped tattoos on his arm burned, but Natsu didn't notice much, being too involved with his thoughts. _Going back to Fairy Tail will be a good thing; I drown myself in work until I figure out my next step._

Instead of waiting until the morning to say goodbye to everyone else, Natsu wrote a note and left it on his bed. He snuck out in the early morning, headed back towards Fairy Tail, Happy joining him back. After they both silently reached the outskirts of the forest, Natsu couldn't help but look back and mentally wish Lucy luck on her journey.

As Natsu walked away further, he still didn't understand why he felt he was betraying her. He thought they were together, but shrugged it off soon after that thought. He never claimed her, so why should he expect her to be only loyal to him?

* * *

The next morning Lucy woke up in her bed stretching out before looking out onto the view of the lagoon her window offered. She took a deep breath in, feeling the sharp bite of anxiety at the end. _Natsu is leaving today. I should get ready now so that I catch him before he leaves._ She thought.

After she got ready, trying to look her best, Lucy headed towards the kitchen, hoping she would find him in the pantry digging through all the food. She felt disappointed when she discovered he wasn't there, and sat at the table, head in her hands. Some time went by before Gray and Erza entered the kitchen, ready to have a relaxing day. Lucy shot up out of her gloom. " Oh Good morning! I didn't hear you come in" she said with a fake smile.

After they all started getting breakfast cooking, Gray was the first to notice Natsu was not present. "That lazy dragon breath – bag is probably still sleeping, trying to get out of helping! I'm going to go drag him in here"

Erza smiled to herself as Gray stormed out of the kitchen towards Natsu's room. She looked at Lucy and said " I should probably follow; knowing those two, they'll fight and ruin this place if someone doesn't intervene quick enough," and headed out after Gray.

Lucy felt a bit of panic in her stomach, wondering how awkward breakfast was going to be with Natsu there, after their conversation last night. _I'll just pretend nothing happened and that it's all kosher._ She nodded to herself, determined to not let Natsu affect her. She then focused on cutting up the fruit to go with breakfast when Erza and Gray came running back to tell her something important.

" That piece of shit flame brain left us to go on a job!" Gray exclaimed.

"What's that all about?" Erza said, grabbing the note from Gray examining it.

"Oh I bumped into him last night before bed and he mentioned something about a job he signed up for before this mission and wanting to complete the new job." Lucy said, " I just didn't think he was leaving so quickly."

Erza and Gray both looked at each other and then at Lucy. " Do you really think Natsu is capable of lining up multiple jobs? He never goes on a mission without you Lucy." Erza stated.

Lucy blushed at the thought, but quickly regained her logical mind, " Well maybe he lined up more jobs, considering he just returned to the guild not too long ago; he probably needed the jewel" She replied.

Gray caught Erza's gaze; a look of complete doubt. _Natsu was never one to worry about money, let alone line up multiple jobs. Hell, he had to work in some restaurants as the dish washer for not being able to pay for meals he ordered._ Her eyes said it all.

Lucy on the other hand was dumbfounded inside that he left without saying good bye in person. But she shook her head and said to the confused duo, " Well, we won't let this ruin our day of relaxation! If Natsu was too much of pansy to continue with us, then he made the right move by leaving." Erza, Gray and even Lucy, were all surprised she'd actually say something so cold about Natsu.

* * *

Happy thought it was weird how silent Natsu was being on the walk back to Magnolia. He wanted to stop and fish, but Natsu wasn't interested. _Who isn't interested in fishing?_ Happy wondered.

While Happy was having an inner dialogue moment with himself, So was Natsu. His however, was so intense he was giving himself a head ache.

 _She let that guy touch her, she never actually loved you_

 _But maybe I just heard the wrong part of the conversation? How could you betray Lucy like this? She needs you._

 _She doesn't need me she has Erza and that fuck boy Gray._

Happy and Natsu pressed on in silence until they saw the town, Crocus, in sight. Slightly relieved and ready to eat and maybe pick a fight with Sting, Natsu hurried towards the town only to stop when the scent of someone familiar invaded his nostrils.

Natsu felt his body go numb when he turned around and saw smoke coming up from where the previous mountain used to be; where his friends were staying; where Lucy was…

 _Zeref._


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey! So I guess I posted these updates when the site wasn't posting update notifications so make sure you read chapter 7 first! Im going to try to make this a weekly-ish update. Enjoy!**

Zeref looked out the bay window in his room that over looked an over grown garden. It was raining and as the streams of rain ran down the window, he couldn't help but trace the tracks the drops left behind, the drops surprising him slightly when he thought he predicted where the drop would end up, but then end up changing direction abruptly. After a long while of leaning against the window pane, he let out a sigh and a rolled his eyes. Zeref headed towards his chair that was by the fire place. It was a cooler day than usual, and he found himself struggling to come up with a plan of attack after his brawl with the fairies.

Zeref had learned a lot of new information with his brawl with Natsu; he recognized that power anywhere. _So the dragon attempted to teach him to control his demon power. Interesting._ Zeref thought, recalling his encounter with the dragon slayer. _He melted my magic; if he harnessed his demon magic, I would be dead right now. Igneel opened a can of worms and now Natsu is having problems keeping the worms inside._ He chuckled to himself. _I could use this knowledge to my advantage. If Natsu cannot control his demon side, then all I have to do is influence him to lose control, END will take over, and I will have a deadly pawn in this upcoming war._ Zeref leaned towards the side table, pouring himself a glass of scotch. _But how do I get Natsu to lose control?_ He placed the glass against his head and shut his eyes.

He opened them suddenly, remembering that the only reason Natsu starting slipping was because of that girl. _The blonde celestial mage. He loves her and that could be his undoing_ Zeref sat back in his chair, an evil smile burned across his face.

 _If I can pull END out, he will be in my control, I could rally a large army, eliminate this world of magic, making me essentially a god. The only person who stands in my way is that girl. I need to convince END to kill her. Once she's out of my way, I'll be unstoppable._

There was a knock at the door. "Enter" Zeref answered coldly. He hated when his minions pulled him out of his thoughts.

"My lord Zeref, as requested we found the 13th gate key," Jackal entered the room, carefully as anything set Zeref off in a killing rampage since the whole sacrifice had gone wrong.

Zeref looked up from his drink, his eyes piercing into the demon. "So you aren't as useless as I thought Jackal. Maybe this time, you won't let a fairy knock you down."

"Well sire, there was a small problem with the key; it was shattered into 3 pieces; we managed to find all the pieces, but we cannot summon the snake charmer." Jackal said, very submissively.

Zeref walked up to Jackal. Jackal felt his blood run cold. Zeref grabbed the shards of key and walked back to his chair. He waved the back of his hand at Jackal, "Leave me" and Jackal ran out the door. Zeref stared down at the pieces of the zodiac key. "You and I both know you don't actually need this key to enter this world, so why don't you stop playing games and come out of your realm. I have a plan I'd like to discuss with you and I think you'll be interested in it, because it involves getting revenge on Zodiac's bloodline.

Suddenly the pieces of key shook and in a blinding light, a giant terrifying snake appeared, towering over the dark wizard.

"Now Ophiculus, I can't take you seriously in that form, come sit and have a drink with me, and we will discuss how to annihilate Zodiac's bloodline once a for all the only way you know best; by ripping out hearts. I know you're an expert in that field; _love and loss_

The snake shrunk down to take the form of a man with hardened eyes.

* * *

After breakfast, Lucy Gray and Erza decided to enjoy the late morning on the dock. It was another beautiful day and the team decided to get some well-earned rest ( and maybe a tan).

Lucy looked up at the sky through the opening of the trees above the lagoon, her floppy hat blocking out some of the late morning sunshine. As the warmth of the sun hit her face, she closed her eyes and thought of Natsu. She secretly hoped he would come back, then she mentally slapped herself; she couldn't let her mind to wander to _him._ She can't afford to get distracted. Lucy's mind then skipped over Natsu and began wondering where her next step was. She figured the sword was the next key to opening up the next element, but she had no idea how or what element. If she had to guess, it could be any one of the 3 left because of the colors in the handle. But how would she cut through them? _Maybe I need to consult some celestial spirits_ she thought to herself.

As Lucy ponded what her next move was, Erza was thinking about Lucy's new weapon. She was trying to recall the time an old woman stopped her in the street to tell her about a sword that sounded just like Lucy's. Erza shut her eyes tightly to recall every detail.

 _Erza was walking down the streets in Magnolia, looking for the new café that had opened up. Apparently they made the best tarts in town and she was going to be the judge of that. She was deep in thought about pastries and missed the turn to the café. When she withdrew from her thoughts, she found herself in a bad part of town as she heard the cries for help. Erza ran towards the sound sword in hand, ready to serve justice. When she ran around the corner she discovered an elderly woman trying to fend off a small group of thieves trying to steal her purse. Erza ran toward the group, taking out the thieves. I'll give you to the count of 5 to leave this woman and return her belongings. When the thieves laughed, a wicked smile came across her face and swished her sword at the thief coming at her. In an instant, all his clothes fell to the ground. Quickly realizing who they were about the fight, the group ran off. Erza helped the old lady grab her belongings that the thieves dropped on the ground in their haste._

 _"Thank you", the old lady said. "It's not every day you meet a genuine warrior who's also a beautiful lady."_

 _"Oh you are too kind ma'am" Erza smiled back._

 _"I take it you are a master of swords then?" The old woman inquired_

 _"Yes, I guess you could say that" Erza replied_

 _" Then I have a challenge for you"_

 _"Oh?" Erza let a bit of her excitement out. She loved challenges._

 _"There's a riddle that's been passed down in my family about finding an ancient sword" the old woman started_

 _'Well then I must ask you to let me hear it" Erza responded, determined to figure out the riddle._

 _The old woman began;_

 _"A sword to demise_

 _The enemies of its master's eyes_

 _To appear when purest star, earth and human unite_

 _To make the wrongs on the earth right._

 _Keys, sword and earth_

 _To Wind will give birth_

 _When Master severs skies from land_

 _Where human touches Wind, will it be in their hand._

 _And in the hand will Wind be_

 _Help to calm the raging Sea_

 _A sleeping friend or killer foe_

 _For she decides; A lovers' embrace, or to Heaven you go_

 _Then once the sea is in user's grasp_

 _Naked in flame you must bask_

 _Fear not to burn_

 _And from dark a demon shall turn_

 _When all four fuse in one_

 _The true power of sword will be done_

 _The enemies of its master's eyes_

 _Will the sword demise"_

Erza snapped her eyes open and approached Lucy.

"I know where our next clue lies Lucy!"

As Erza repeated the riddle to the group, Lucy wrote every word down.

"Let's break down what we know and see how it relates to the riddle" Gray started, "The sword appeared when Lucy and I were fighting."

" _To appear when purest star, earth and human unite_. That must mean when Lucy broke the bounds of earth and celestial to tame the element."

"Well I didn't as much tame is as befriend it" Lucy replied

"That must be what it means by unite. You're a celestial mage who befriended the earth element; _when purest star, earth and human unite_." Erza stated.

"So we've deciphered the first part, now onto the second"

" _Keys, sword and earth to wind will give birth._ So I'm guessing that refers to me when I sacrifice more keys, and somehow use earth to severe Air's celestial bonds." Lucy said

But look at the next lines, _When master severs skies from land, Where human touches wind will it be in their hand_. Where does someone touch the wind?

The all stopped to think. "Maybe we just have to wait for a windy day." Gray said.

"Don't be stupid Gray, windy days aren't predictable and there's no celebration for a wind god." Erza snapped.

As the two were arguing, Lucy exclaimed "Wait! Maybe there isn't a wind _god_ but we all know someone who has a certain dragon slaying power that gives them ability to control the wind."

"Then its settled! Tomorrow we head out, back to Fairy Tail." Erza commanded.

"Yes Ma'am" Gray and Lucy both replied quickly.

* * *

As the trio returned to basking in the sun, Oasis was out in the forest.

He was up very early stewing over ancient texts, when he realized he was almost late to his only job of guarding the forest. He headed out towards the newest forest addition. The energy from Lucy's addition felt warm and refreshing. Although the rest of the area was breath taking, Lucy's wing felt more natural. Oasis remembers when he watched Zodiac create this forest. The energy he felt when walking through Zodiac's area of the forest felt like it was submissive towards his presence while in the newer area, the forest felt inviting and nostalgic, like when your old friend invites you in for a hot drink on a cold day. The magic energy there was palpable; Oasis could almost reach out and grab it.

He approached the golden rose that lay in the center of the forest, and watered it. The leaves turned up towards the water, almost thanking him for the drink. Oasis smiled down at the rose. "You're most welcome"

Suddenly Oasis' eyes widened, he could sense evil approaching. He heard footsteps slowly approaching, hearing the deliberate snap and crunch of leaves and twigs beneath foot.

"Why Hello Oasis, it has been a long time" Zeref replied.

Oasis stood up slowly, his eyes hardening, "I hoped I would never see the likes of you ever again." He said coldly.

"Is this the welcome I deserve after all this time? That's no way to greet your superior." Zeref hissed, sending a black flame hurling towards Oasis.

With a quick block, Oasis conjured a defensive magical barrier. "You will never be my superior, you demon"

Zeref laughed. " Oh if only you knew" his eyes turning black. "Now my minions, find the celestial mage and bring her to me unharmed. Kill anyone who gets in your way" and from behind Zeref, ten black knights riding black stallions emerged out of thin air.

Without thinking, Oasis fired some of his magic up into the sky, hoping to warn the others.

As the knights galloped away to find Lucy, Oasis turned towards Zeref. _I know I won't be able to win this, but I can give them time to flee._ Oasis thought

A sickening smile overcame Zeref's face. "I've been waiting a long time to end your pathetic life."

* * *

 ** _***Earlier***_**

Ophiuchus walked over and sat Zeref's opposite by the fire. "I'm not sure that confiding in you was the best decision I made back then. I see your strategy; you're trying to use my hate for Zodiac and my loss of Sakura to get me to join you.

"Not entirely; I want, no need, to use you for a greater purpose. You might be the key to unlocking a demon Igneel locked away so long ago."

Interested, Ophiuchus leaned forward.

"As you know, years ago Igneel sided with Zodiac in creating the Agoroth and teaching Dragon Slayer magic to humans for sake of getting rid of…Acnologia. With that knowledge alone, your revenge should also include anything to do with that so called king of the dragons. Any alliance Zodiac made, you need to help me destroy. We are united by a common enemy Ophiuchus, and I know how to annihilate them both, _at the same time._ " Zeref spoke.

"So I'm guessing you want me to take out the Celestial Mage Lucy then?" Ophiuchus assumed.

"Not at all. I'm going to share with you some confidential information, and with that I need you to help me formulate a plan. But before I share it with you, I need to know if you're still wanting to take out the Zodiac line to get your revenge."

Ophiuchus smiled darkly, "It's all I've thought about the last 400 years"

"Very well, as I mentioned earlier, Igneel agreed to teach Dragon Slayer magic to humans; his adoptive son, Natsu was or is my brother. He was killed along with my parents in a dragon attack on their village long ago. I treaded in the dark waters of black magic until I was able to resurrect Natsu. But in order to do that, I had to tie him to a demon soul I created. And thus I was cursed with immortality. Because I had to use part of my own soul, we are linked. With that said, here comes the dilemma; Aside from that Celestial Mage, Natsu is the only other person that can kill me. Currently, because his human side has locked in the demon, that's how he presences. We need to get him to tap into the demon side and unlock END."

"Natsu is END? The most powerful and dangerous master of Tartaros?!" Ophiuchus was definitely taking the bait.

Zeref nodded in confirmation. "If we unlock END I will command him to side with us and he will eliminate that poor excuse for a Celestial Mage for us. I'll then let you take the weapon and destroy it, killing every last shred of Zodiac's legacy. Luckily for us, Igneel tried to teach Natsu to tap into his demon side, so the seal is already a little broken. If we can make Natsu tap into the power once again, I have no doubt END will take over."

"Again? When has he done this before?"

"Yes, remember when you helped those brats break into my sacrificial ceremony? After your daughter returned you to the spirit realm, Natsu saw me ready to kill that girl and used his demon magic to melt my magic. There's no mistaking that END's slumbering magic is much more powerful than my own. If Natsu can harness END's magic while keeping the demon locked down, there's no doubt he will kill me."

"So the Dragon Slayer has feelings for the girl. We could use this against him or both of them. However, it sounds like a potentially bad situation. Even if we unleash END, who's to say Natsu wont over throw the demon possessing him? Then the plan falls apart." Ophiuchus replied

"Not entirely. Natsu is linked to me, if Natsu kills me, he dies too."

Ophiuchus smiled darkly. "I think I have a plan. One that no matter what happens, will devastate everyone to their core."

"Tell me." Zeref inquired.

"Natsu is a Dragon Slayer and his traits as a dragon are what will be his undoing. He is protective of Lucy because he loves her. We do what we can to bring them close together, so that he marks her as his. With a small scale attack that they narrowly escape, it will bring them closer together. Then after she's marked, we kidnap her. Even though she will probably be stronger than us, my poison will weaken her so she's no threat and keep her locked up. Then we send Natsu messages that we have her; send her hair or a finger or clothing. He will storm in and attempt to save her. When he fights you and I, he will have no choice to tap into his demon magic, and if we give him a good show, He'll let END take over. Then we step aside as he executes Zodiac's only hope."

Ophiuchus continued "If however, He ends up over throwing END and killing you, thus killing himself, it will devastate Lucy so much, she'll probably die of a broken heart. For me this is the situation although not ideal for you, I wish for. I want to watch her face when she sees her lover die, like Zodiac watched mine when he murdered Sakura."

Taking a minute to think the plan over, Zeref smiled, "Well I cannot say my death is something I wish on myself, but I have a way of making your wish come true. When we unleash END, right before he kills the mage, I'll kill END. Even if he is a Demon, she will know Natsu is in there, and watching the demon die means Natsu is never coming back. I won't die and watching her dragon die will kill her after her battle with END. I guarantee it."

Ophiuchus laughed. He felt the malice coarse through his body, the hair on his neck stood up. After 400 years, he will have his revenge after all.

He stood up as did Zeref, but before Ophiuchus stepped back into the celestial world, "You will have me as an alliance; you hid my daughter all those years ago, therefore this will be my thanks to you" and he vanished.

Zeref snickered. _There is no chance I am giving_ _Ophiuchus the Agoroth. After I kill END and_ _Ophiuchus gets his final revenge, I will kill the Celestial Spirit, and with no one of great threat to me anymore, I will be a god of this world, worshipped for eternity._

* * *

Lucy opened her eyes from her day nap in the sun. When she looked up in the sky she saw smoke from above the trees.

"Hey what's that?" Lucy said, stretched out.

Ezra looked in the direction she pointed. " It's a distress signal; something is wrong." Quickly requiping into armor

"We need to get out of here," Gray said

"Not Without Oasis!" Lucy yelled.

The three then ran out of the house, towards the smoke signal. Erza and the rest found themselves fighting off the dark knights, almost as soon as they left the house. And to their surprise, the knights were not as difficult to fend off as they thought.

After all 10 had been taken care of, they headed towards where Oasis was only to find him in a raging battle with Zeref. As the team arrived, there seemed to be a lull in the intense battle. Oasis stopped and turned towards them, "You weren't supposed to come!" he yelled. Zeref took this as cue to attack Oasis while he was distracted, hitting him with a death spell. The trio watched Oasis fall to the ground in a heap, unmoving.

"Ah I see you have come to witness the death of your mentor, Lucy Heartfilia" Zeref laughed.

Angered by what she just saw, Lucy attempted to use her newly found maker magic in an attempt to challenge the dark mage.

"I will no longer allow you to bring death to my family; I was weak 5 years ago, but I am much stronger now, and will not stop until you lie dead in the dirt." Lucy hissed back.

For the first time in centuries, Zeref felt shivers up his spine. After all, she could probably challenge him at the very least with her new magic. But after the thought left his mind, a giant snake appeared out of thin air and devoured Erza and Gray. Lucy turned around to hear Gray yell, "NOT FUCKING AGAIN!"

Lucy was relieved to see Ophiuchus had come to save them and said to the dark spirit "Thank you!" She turned back to Zeref, who had a dark look on his face. "He's not here to save you, silly mage." He laughed. To Lucy's horror, Ophiuchus spat out Erza and Gray. They both fell to the ground, severely poisoned.

 _NO!_ Her mind screamed.

"You will both PAY for this with your _deaths_ " She yelled as she ran towards Zeref, blade burning in her hand.

Zeref shot a dark dagger at her, just to gauge her magic ability. She swung her sword slashing the dagger away. Recognizing the sword, Zeref backed off as Lucy jumped into the air, ready to land a blow. Zeref summoned a dark sword, and the two engaged in an intense claymore fight.

Zeref was laughing like a mad man, "I _haven't been this fired up in years"_ He whispered to her while their swords were crossed. That phase reminded Lucy of Natsu for some reason. She lost all focus and taking advantage of her distracted mind, Zeref hit her in the stomach with the hilt and as Lucy stumbled back, Ophiuchus appeared, poisoning her with his bite. Lucy fell to the ground, joining her mates. "How could you?" she managed to squeak out at him.

Ophiuchus looked down at the pathetic mage. "I made an alliance with Zeref on the condition that I get to watch you die, heir of Zodiac "he hissed before going back into the celestial realm.

Zeref, still sword in hand, walked over to Erza.

"And for your crimes of treason for interfering with my ceremony, I sentence you and your friend here to death. Any last words, Titania, queen of the fairies?" He teasingly asked.

"How about FUCK YOU!" A distant voice screamed.

Lucy felt an intense heat wash over her.

 _Natsu!_ Was her last thought before passing out.


	9. Chapter 9

**_SHIT! Sorry everyone, my personal life blew up and I found myself needing to take care of my family. But life has a way of working itself out, and I found some time to write a quick chapter. I've taken time off work to relax, so I may update again sometime soon! Enjoy!_**

* * *

 _HOW ABOUT FUCK YOU!_

A greedy smile stretched across Zeref's face as he saw a rapidly approaching Natsu, who just conjured and threw a brilliant flame at Zeref's head. With a graceful side step, the flame whizzed by, but Zeref could still feel the heat it left in its stead. After the brightness of the flames dispersed, Natsu jumped in the air, attempting to land a fire dragon iron fist. Zeref jumped further away and raised the dark sword he was previously fighting Lucy with in defense. Natsu stood before Zeref, consumed in terrifying flames. An eerie silence fell between the enemies, both staring intensely at the other.

Natsu was the first to break the stand still, and ran at Zeref with deadly intent. With flames in his fists, he fought Zeref, trying to get around his sword. Unfortunately, Zeref was skilled in the art of sword fighting, and found a hole in Natsu's onslaught of attacks. The dark blade came down fast at Natsu's head, and at the very last second, he caught the blade with his palms.

A cruel laugh escaped Zeref's lips as he said, "This is where I end you. You cannot escape this offense with your life Natsu"

A deadly, psychotic look appeared on Natsu's face as he sharply said, "Look again you bastard." And sure enough, Natsu's hands burned through the blade, melting the dark magic that held it together.

Surprise over took Zeref as he dropped the melting blade and stumbled back. Natsu quickly grabbed for the sword, surprised that he was able to grab it at all. The top edge of the sword had melted away leaving a gruesome edge that could be used to cause a horrific death. As Natsu approached Zeref with a menacing stride, Zeref stood up.

"You cannot kill me Natsu"

"Oh yea? Cause it looks like I'm about to. You hurt my friends and attempted to execute them; I sentence you to death for being a murderous demon"

Zeref snickered at the irony of Natsu's words "Listen to me. You cannot kill me; If I die, you die and if you die, who will save your friends?"

"Why would I die if I kill you? That doesn't make any sense"

"Because, you and I are linked; maybe you should go ask that poor excuse for a dragon and father of yours, Igneel."

Natsu could feel the rage build up inside him. His markings burned under the bandages like before when he fought him at Blood Shadow.

"Yes. That power is why I created END to do my bidding. I needed my blood in my strongest demon to have absolute control over my deadliest creation. You have my blood Natsu, and the seed of a demon, END, within you. That is why if I die, you die too."

"IM TIRED OF HEARING YOUR SICKENING VOICE AND YOUR LIES" Natsu yelled at Zeref and plunged the cruel edge of the sword into Zeref's stomach.

Immediately after impact, Natsu fell to the ground, screaming in pain. Zeref stood up over Natsu.

"Not all my words are lies, I did try to warn you. But your arrogance and stupidity are what will be your demise brother. My magic cannot kill me, but the injury you attempted to inflict on me, you only inflicted upon yourself; think of me as your personal voodoo doll; anything you or anyone else inflicts on me, will also affect you."

Natsu grabbed at his stomach, falling to his knees and looking up at the dark wizard. Zeref picked up his sword, walking over to Oasis who still laid unconscious on the ground.

"I will make sure that sorry excuse for a Celestial mage never learns to claim the other elements," and to Natsu's horror, plunged his sword into Oasis.

"NO" Natsu screamed out.

Zeref continued over to the rest of the gang who lie on the ground, now severely poisoned.

"Maybe I should just put them out of their misery." He said with an evil smirk and raised his sword over Gray's head.

Natsu sprang into action; he increased his body temperature to insanely hot temperatures to cauterize the internal damage, while preparing for a deadly assault. As he stood up, flames engulfing him, Zeref stopped to witness a terrifying shift in magic power. Natsu's bandages burned off, and his skin started to change. Red scales starting forming all the way up his arms, over his chest and across his face. He starting giving into the dark power that had been scratching at surface since the beginning of this fight. Black claws sprang from his finger tips and toes, and a pair of black ram like horns rose out of his salmon colored hair. His eyes turned a piercing red, and a darkness spread across his face, that made him almost unrecognizable.

Zeref smiled. His plan was coming together faster than anticipated.

"Nice to see you finally coming back out to play, END"

The once dragon slayer now practically turned demon, smiled back at Zeref and turned his gaze towards the bodies of Fairy Tail's mages spread across the ground. Something grabbed at the demon inside, struggling to take back control; to shove END back into the shadows of its subconscious, and before END knew it, the demon was shut down yet again. The darkness lifted from Natsu's face and his emerald eyes replaced the red.

Breathing heavily, Natsu stared back at Zeref. _I will not let him tempt me into giving in again_. Then without warning, Natsu let out a mighty fire dragon roar, that directly hit Zeref. Once the flames died down, to Natsu's horror, Zeref had disappeared. _Fucking coward,_ he thought before turning his attention over to the fallen gang. Natsu felt his magic power fill up again as he hurried over to his friends.

* * *

Lucy woke up serval days later, scratching at the IV attached to her arm. She rubbed her eyes, wondering where she was. Her last memory was seeing Natsu sprinting towards them in the distance before the poison over took her.

She sat up and turned to get out of the bed, when she saw Natsu standing in the doorway.

"Hi" he said

"Hi" she said

"I'm happy to see you are awake and well. You suffered quite the poisonous bite" Natsu said stoically.

Lucy smiled. "Thanks for coming back, I thought you were long gone when Zeref and Ophiuchus struck. How is everyone else?"

A sadness instantly appeared in Natsu's eyes, and Lucy noticed immediately. "Erza and Gray recovered after a day's rest, But Oasis didn't make it out with his life" Natsu didn't make eye contact with Lucy on the last part of his update.

Lucy closed her eyes, trying to fight the tears threating to fall. "How did he die?" she whispered.

"Zeref stabbed him with a dark blade. I tried to stop him, but it all happened so fast." Natsu whispered back.

Lucy went to stand up on shaky legs. Before she fell, Natsu was by her side, supporting her.

"How did we get away?" she asked, still trying to stand on her own.

"Zeref disappeared after I attacked him; I hurried over to you and the others and sent a distress signal up. Members of Sabertooth arrived soon after and help me get all of you into the infirmary." He replied.

A silence over took them, then their eyes meet for a moment before Lucy ripped hers away. "Why did you leave me Natsu?" She asked with cold tears in her eyes. "I told you how I feel about you, and you returned those feelings by stomping all over them."

A sudden anger burned though Natsu, and he let her go. "How dare you tell me I stomped all over your feelings. A dragon slayer's hearing is far more superior than you could ever imagine" he hissed back at her.

Natsu read the confusion on Lucy's face. "If you're wondering what I'm talking about, maybe you should talk to your precious _Gray_ about how you feel."

With that, Natsu stormed out as Gray and Erza entered the room.

"What the hell is he so pissed about?" Gray asked, turning towards Lucy.

More tears pooled in her chocolate eyes, and Gray quickly got apologetic. "I'm sorry Lucy, it's none of my business."

Erza was the first to speak, "We are team mates Gray, it will always be our business. Tell me Lucy, do I need to have some stern words with Natsu?"

Lucy replied softly, "I don't know. I'm so confused. I told him how he hurt me, and then he got defensive and told me to confide in Gray. Gray, why would he say that?"

Gray looked back at the doorway, before looking at her with the same confusion. "Tell me exactly what he said."

" _A dragon slayer's hearing is far more superior than you could ever imagine. If you're wondering what I'm talking about, maybe you should talk to your precious Gray"_

A sudden realization struck Gray. "Lucy, I wonder if he caught some part of our conversation we had when I was teaching you maker magic. Maybe he misinterpreted a part of it"

"That makes sense, after all, that was really the only time Natsu wasn't around…" Lucy said in agreement.

"What an idiot. He should be on the floor begging for forgiveness; I'll go drag him in here" Erza scolded out loud.

Lucy shook her head. "No Erza its fine. If he would really think I would do anything with someone else, even after I told him my feelings and jump to conclusions that quickly without clarifying, then I need to re-evaluate if that is someone I want to be with."

"A mature choice Lucy" Erza smiled as Gray stormed out of the room.

When Gray reached the doorway, to his surprise Natsu was standing just outside, leaning up against the wall. He looked up and met Gray's cold glare.

"You don't deserve her affections Natsu," Gray whispered over to him, knowing his hearing would pick up on his cold words.

* * *

When Lucy was strong enough for her legs to carry her, she hiked up to Oasis' Grave. Because her recovery took longer, she missed the burial ceremony. When she approached his grave, it was nearly sunset, and the stars were just coming out to greet the night sky.

Lucy knelt down at the foot of the grave. _Thank you for teaching me to be confident in myself. I could have never asked for a better teacher._ She placed the flowers on the mound, and kissed the tombstone. Then she started crying silently, tearing staining the ground.

As she turned to walk back, Lucy saw a familiar shaded of pink approach her.

"I heard your tears hit the ground, and thought I should come see if you were okay" Natsu said.

Lucy smiled shallowly, "Thanks. He taught me so much; I owe him everything. I just don't know where to go from here. I feel so lost in my training." She said, turning back towards Oasis' grave.

When she turned back around, Natsu was in front of her. "I'm sorry about earlier; I know my assumptions don't deserve forgiveness, especially after I abandoned you and left you for dead or worse."

A soft pink spread across her cheeks. "I forgive you Natsu."

A small grin appeared on his face. His bent down to kiss her, but she stopped him, "We can't do this Natsu. I have too much to focus on; I can't risk repeating what happened and getting hurt again. I'm sorry." As she started back down the trail, Natsu, still standing in the same spot whispered, "I'll always be there to protect you Lucy, even if that means just as a friend."

With a small smile she kept to herself, she whispered back, "I'd like that." As she kept walking.

After she was out of sight, Natsu approached Oasis' grave. "I swear on my life, I'll protect her, and help her complete her training to destroy Zeref." He patted the tombstone, then headed back down the trail after Lucy.

* * *

A while later, a shadow moved in the treeline, making its way to Oasis' grave after Natsu left.

The snake slithered out of the darkness before taking a shape of a man with sad blue eyes.

 _I didn't mean for you to get caught up in this, old friend._ Those blue eyes cast down to the sakura blooms the Celestial Mage had left earlier.

 _I feel like I've losing more than I wanted to._


	10. Chapter 10

_**And Again Later than I said.. Sorry! Enjoy!**_

Chapter 10

The day after Lucy said her goodbye's at Oasis' grave, the team said their good byes to the members of Sabertooth and headed on the road leading back to fairy tail. After a while of walking, Natsu and Happy ran up ahead to possibly catch fish for dinner later that night, while Erza and Gray hung back to catch up with Lucy.

"So you two seem to be on better terms. Can we assume you two are back together?" Erza finally asked

Lucy blushed. "Actually, we aren't back together. I told him I cant afford to get hurt and let my emotions get in the way of my mission. So we just agreed to stay friends."

"For now." Gray added, teasingly. Lucy laughed, "Maybe"

"Well I think it is a very mature decision. Love can blind even the best of us and lead us to make rash decisions based on feelings." Erza said.

"Well, isn't that the whole philosophy behind our guild Erza? To harness our feelings?" Gray argued

" Well with that logic, why aren't you dating Juvia right now?" Erza winked at Gray.

Gray suddenly got quiet. Juvia was the perfect example of how blind love can make you. He laughed nervously. Wanted to ease the tension, Erza elbowed him in the stomach. "I'm just teasing Gray." He rubbed his stomach; her friendly hits were awfully hard.

While the two continued to debate the guild's philosophies, Lucy found herself a head of them, looking up at the sun beaming down on her face. Since her tangle with Zeref, she suddenly starting appreciating the small things in life, much life their last run in five years ago. She found her mind wondering about the future or if there would even be one. She knew how dangerous this mission would be going in to it, but almost being faced with death twice now, she couldn't help but try to play out what the end of this journey would look like, and if she would be paying with her life to rid the world of Zeref's darkness.

Lucy was now quite ahead of Gray and Erza, so far in fact she couldn't hear them arguing anymore. She snapped back to reality, quickly taking in her surroundings. A shimmering caught her eye, and she saw the small lake up ahead, where Natsu and Happy were fishing. Her heart swelled a little, but not long before her mind slammed into action. _I can't think like that. I can't get involved with him again. I have to hold my own heart in my own hands; he almost crushed it last time._

 _But if you end up paying for this mission with your life, don't you think you deserve to have him?_

 _No. He was never mine to have if that is the case. If I die it would kill him._

 _Don't you think it would kill him that you died, even if you are just friends?_

Lucy shook her head. She had to stop arguing with herself or the headache she already has would grow worse.

* * *

It was night time, and the gang found themselves full after eating so much fish that Happy and Natsu caught for dinner. With their sleeping bags all rolled out ready to settle in for the night, Lucy found herself unable to sleep, and her tossing and turning was starting to piss off Gray.

"If you can't sleep, go take a walk until you feel tired." He grumbled at her.

Lucy got up quietly and walked out to the lake. She sat in the sand, looking at the reflection of the stars in the water. She had spent way too much time in her mind today, and even though she could feel her body was quite exhausted, her mind was still racing at light speed.

She looked up at the stars in the night sky and took in a deep breath. She looked back out on the lake. _Looks like I'm not sleeping tonight._

"Well maybe the solution to your problem is just to stop thinking,"

Lucy turned around. "Zodiac?! How am I seeing you right now?!"

"As the power of the armlet grows, so does mine, thus giving me the ability to contact you in this world" he replied, "But nonetheless, I made you a promise, and now I intend on sharing where Aquarius' key is."

Lucy jumped up, "Where?!"

Zodiac extended his hand and gave her the bottom half of Aquarius' key. "When a key breaks in order to summon the Celestial King, half stayed in this world with you, and the other half stays with the King until he decides the key is ready to be created again. However, the process of forging keys anew comes with some conditions."

"What's that?" Lucy inquired, " I'll do anything if it means I get to see her again!"

Zodiac smiled softly, " You have to find her, and she has to agree to a new contract."

"Find her? Why can I just summon her with the key?" Lucy asked.

"Because when you summoned the Celestial King with her key, he took her place in a sense, which banished her to stay in this world until she is reunited with her key." Zodiac replied.

Lucy felt tears run down her face. "She's been here the entire time?! Well where can I find her?!"

Zodiac started to fade into the morning light threatening to chase the night away. " Ask the wind" and he vanished.

"Ask the wind?! What kind of hippy bullshit is that?! Ugh!" Lucy yelled into the nothingness where Zodiac was standing.

"Jeeze Lucy I'm starting to wonder if you just enjoy yelling at this point."

"Oh shut up Natsu" Lucy snapped turning around.

"Hey is that Aquarius' key?!" Natsu asked

"Yea it's just the two halves. Now I have to find her to get her to make a new contract, and apparently the best place to start looking is to ask the wind." She rolled her eyes.

"The wind?" Natsu said, looking around, " Hello wind, could you tell Lucy where Aquarius is?"

Lucy smiled and then starting laughing at him. "It's not that simple; something tells me when I unlock the Air element, that will be my opportunity to 'ask the wind'"

"Makes sense, so did you guys figure out what the next step is?" Natsu asked.

"Yes actually. Erza remembered a poem that a woman told her years ago that talk about this sword and taming the elements. The part about wind goes: _Keys, sword and earth,_ _to Wind will give birth,_ _When Master severs skies from land,_ _Where human touches Wind, will it be in their hand._ So our next course of action is to ask Wendy, considering she is an air user herself."

"Smart, I never would have thought of that. When did you figure all this out?"

"Right after you left." Lucy replied, a hint of sting in her voice, which didn't go unnoticed by Natsu. An awkward silence fell between them.

"I'm sorry I left you Lucy. I never apologized for that." He said, unable to look at her.

"I just don't understand why you never clarified with me. You just shut me out and assumed the worst of Gray and I." Lucy spat back.

Natsu cast his eyes down at the ground. "But you came back for us when you noticed something was wrong. You saved all of us, and for that, I don't have the words to tell you how much I owe you." Lucy almost whispered. Natsu's eyes shot up to meet Lucy's.

"You'll pay me back one day, maybe if my life is the one that needs saving." He replied with his usual toothy smile.

* * *

When the gang finally reached Magnolia and finally the guild hall, the first thing they did was run to the bar and get some of Mira's food. It had been far too long since the team had any good food. As the boys so obnoxiously chewed away at their food, Lucy and Erza asked Mira where Wendy was.

"Oh she left on a job with Carla two days ago. Why?" Mira asked.

"We think she is the key in discovering the next part of our mission. Can you tell us where she went?" Erza inquired.

"Sure, she took a job request on a tropical island. I'll grab you the details of where the island is."

"Thank you so much Mira!" Lucy exclaimed.

Lucy turned around to take in the guild again. It had felt like forever since she was last there. She looked over to Gray, who had a certain someone hanging off his arm.

"For the last time, I'm fine. Now get off me" Gray whined at Juvia.

"But it's been so long since we've been in each other's arms. Embrace me my love!"

Lucy giggled at them. _When was Gray ever going to tell her how he feels? Probably never because she would explode rainbows and hearts._ She felt a tap on her shoulder, and Mira handed her a piece of paper that had directions to the island Wendy was on.

"Thanks again Mira! I'll be heading out right away!"

"Right away?" Erza re-confirmed.

"Well you guys don't have to come; you probably want to take a job or something; I mean it's a two day trip there and another two days back." Lucy said to the group.

"Nonsense! We shall all go together; we are a team after all!" Erza replied.

"Yea and the faster I can get away from crazy here the better!" Gray said, still trying to pry Juvia off of himself.

"Well that's three out five. What about you two, Natsu and Happy?" Erza asked.

"Happy makes all the job related decisions; ask him." Natsu said.

"Well how about it Happy?"

And with an enthusiastic 'Aye Sir!" the team was off again.

* * *

The trip to the island was exhausting. Not only was Natsu sick pretty much the whole time, the anxiety of getting to Wendy was taking it's toll on Lucy. She felt like she was wasting a lot of time to possibly get nowhere. They were traveling to Wendy on the off chance she might know something, and a bad feeling in Lucy's stomach was telling her Wendy had no information that would help them.

When they finally arrived at the island, Lucy hauled all types of ass to find Wendy. Natsu was still in puke mode when they got off the boat, and Erza instructed Gray to watch him.

"But I don't want to babysit him; he's a man after all." Gray whined. "Why can't Happy watch him?"

"How brave of you to disobey my commands Gray," Erza said, a dark aura coming off of her. " Are you prepared to fight to the death for your insabortination?"

"Stop it man, she'll kill you and then I will probably get killed getting caught up in the shit you started!" Natsu managed to get out in between dry heaves. " Besides, Happy flew off a while ago to meet up with Carla."

"Fine" Gray pouted and sat down on the dock, beside a sea green Natsu.

* * *

"Hey Lucy! And Erza too! What a surprise. Did you come to help me?" Wendy greeted them.

"Well, no, we came to ask you a couple questions, but what exactly is your job here?" Lucy responded looking around the beach.

"Well, I saw this old job posting on the board and it was the only one Carla would let me do on my own. There's been no wind on this island for centuries and they needed someone to help the boats get on and off the island faster than usual. It's become a popular tourist destination, but it takes forever to get here because the lack of wind, so being a sky dragon slayer, I do what I can to create wind to help."

"Yes I was wondering why it took us so long to arrive here. This should have been a day trip, but it took us almost a day and half boat ride to get here after getting off the train." Erza remarked.

"Oh, well I have a break soon here, and if Natsu came with you, I bet he could use some healing," Wendy laughed at the thought of the motion sick fire dragon slayer.

"Perfect! We are going to stay at the Windy Day Inn. Meet us at the café there when you get a chance." Erza said.

"Okay! See you in a bit!" Wendy called out to the girls as they left for the Inn.

* * *

The girls arrived at their room. It was tiny, with only one bedroom.

"You must have given us the wrong room; there's no way 5 of us can all fit in here." Lucy said to the Inn keeper.

"What did you expect for 1000 Jewel a night? A penthouse? This is a tourist island. If you want a better room, you have to pay for it." The crabby old keeper snapped back.

Lucy thanked the keeper from behind clenched teeth and entered the room with Erza. "Well we better select our sleeping spots before the boys get here" Lucy suggested.

While the girls were looking around the tiny suite trying to establish a sleeping area, Natsu and Gray finally showed up.

"You can't be serious. This room is so small" Gray whined, the second time that day.

"It's all we are willing to afford; Lucy and I are taking the bed; you two boys can take the couch or the bath tub, your choice." Erza said to Gray, slightly annoyed.

"Well because I had to carry puke brains over here, I'll take the couch" Gray said quickly, while making a quick dash to claim the couch. That seemed to get Natsu out of his motion sickness funk and he leaped for the couch, grabbing as many pillows as he could before Gray could catch him.

"You bastard! How do you suppose I am to sleep on a couch with only the seat cushions on it?!" Gray practically yelled at Natsu.

"Not my problem you pervy popsicle. I'm probably doing house keeping a favor by freeing these pillows from your naked germs." Natsu said over his shoulder while heading to the bathroom to set up his bed.

Lucy and Erza chuckled at the two boys fighting over sleeping arrangements. Lucy felt some nostalgia hit her; it reminded her of before everything got complicated with Natsu and before this life changing mission they were all currently embarked on. _I miss the simpler times_ Lucy thought.

"Hey we should probably get on our way to meet Wendy. We'll let you boys finish settling in, but if I catch wind of any complaints while we are down stairs I'll end the both of you!" Erza said, snapping Lucy out of her thoughts.

Natsu and Gray straightened up and rushed to their respective corners of the suite.

"Good" Erza said with harsh eyes. "Lets go Lucy."

"Aye sir!" Lucy said and chased after her.

* * *

"So there's been no wind for centuries on this island eh?" Erza re confirmed with Wendy.

"Yes! Surprisingly it's still quite the destination for vacations, because the lack of wind means the weather is always the same" Carla pointed out.

"Oh the perfect destination for lovers, am I right Carla?" Happy almost sang towards her.

"You would do well if you didn't speak the rest of the trip tom cat" Carla snapped back at Happy.

"Well that wasn't a _no_ was it?" Happy whispered to himself, still getting a sharp glare from Carla.

Lucy rolled her eyes at the exceeds, " Hey Wendy, do you know of any festivals or celebrations revolving the wind that you read in that spell book Grandine left for you?"

"No, I've read that book back to front, and it mentions nothing of the sort. Why do you ask?" Wendy replied.

"Well, we are still on our mission, and after unlocking earth, I have to now find Air and we thought that you being a sky dragon slayer, you might have an idea as to where we should look." Lucy said, slightly disappointed, the anxiety in her stomach confirming her suspicions were correct.

"Hm, well was there any text or clue?" Wendy asked

Erza told Wendy of the poem that may lead them to unlocking the elements. Unknown to the group, the café employee overheard their conversation. She approached the gang with their orders soon after, " Excuse me, I have your orders, but I couldn't help but over hear your conversation. There is a mountain on this island towards the south that is one of the tallest in the world. No one has ever hiked up it, as the locals tell tales of the darkness that surrounds that mountain. The town's elders theorize that is why there is no wind on this island; that the darkness constantly eats it all up. I mean it is a long shot, but if you're here, you might want to check it out." The waitress informed them.

Erza looked at the group. "Well she is right; we are here now, and we really have no other leads. At the very least, we'll may be figure out why there's no wind on this island."

"Sounds like we have a lot of hiking ahead of us" Lucy whined.

"Well I would offer to fly you up, but you're too heavy for me Lucy," Happy teased.

"Shut it cat!" Lucy hissed.

While the gang continued to ask the waitress questions about the mountain, they were rudely interrupted by a loud crashing sound, followed by a blast of fire and ice. The café promptly filled with steam as the fire and ice evaporated.

"NATSU! GRAY! I TOLD YOU TWO TO BEHAVE!" Erza screamed.

The two still fighting, tried to squeeze through the narrow stairway, Gray tripping Natsu before running over to the group.

"It's not my fault flame for brains over there doesn't understand personal space!" Gray snapped back towards Natsu.

"Personal space? That's a laugh considering you know nothing about public decency. I mean, it's been 2 minutes since we left the room, and your shirt and pants are gone, Pervert." Natsu spat back at Gray.

"ENOUGH!" Erza yelled at the boys. "We may finally have a lead on our mission, and you two clowns decide to terrorize the work place of the person who is trying to help us!"

"Sorry" they both said quietly towards the waitress.

"Well, I better get wiping all the wood furniture down before it all warps from the steam settling on it. I hope what I told you helps you on your journey!" and the waitress left the group.

"So what's the lead?" Gray asked.

* * *

"This is SO awful!" Lucy whined, still trailing behind Erza, Gray and Natsu.

"C'mon Lucy, no one wants to hear your whining. We all feel the same, and it's not our fault you refuse to do any cardio when you train." Gray teased back at Lucy.

Lucy rolled her eyes " _I don't do it because I hate feeling sweaty, Gray."_ She growled at him.

"Look! I'd say we are about half way to the top, although it's difficult to tell with the dark clouds swirling around." Erza said, trying to lighten the mood.

"I don't know why Happy didn't come and just fly us up." Lucy pouted.

"Because he wanted to stay back with Wendy and Carla; something about trying to put the moves on her while Wendy is busy working." Natsu yelled back. He was quite a ways ahead of them, " And besides, he wouldn't be able to carry your ass up that far." He laughed.

"You're lucky your up so far ahead Natsu." Lucy hissed, still hearing his laughter ringing in her ears. "At least you don't have to drag around this heavy ass sword every where." She looked behind her, the hilt of the sword catching her eye. The constant clanging was starting to annoy her, as the dull pain in her back crept its way into her legs.

* * *

The hike went from bad to worse. As the gang continued the climb, they approached the dark clouds surrounding the summit. The clouds were so dark, the daylight couldn't pierce through.

"Thank goodness for flash lights!" Lucy said, grateful she remembered to pack hers, "Unlike the two nothing for brains who barely packed appropriately for such a venture." She said, jibing Natsu and Gray.

"It's fine, we have two lights, and that is plenty for all of us," Erza said, "Just make sure you two stay where you can see our lights and don't venture up too far ahead Natsu!"

The clouds were so thick, the light from the flashlights barely made it visible to see 6 feet in front of them.

"Hey Gray can you hold my light for a minute? I have to pee!" Lucy asked.

"Sure"

"Hey don't point it _at_ me, idiot. I would like some privacy!" She snapped at him

"Oh sorry Lucy!" Gray said, and shone the light away form her. It immediately became pitch black around Lucy, and not wanting Gray to accidently shine the light on her while she was doing her business, she took a couple quick steps back. After she finished, she yelled for Gray to shine the light back toward her, but light didn't come. She didn't even hear a response from him.

"Hello? Stop messing with me Gray and shine the light back my way."

No response again.

"Gray seriously stop fucking with me, I can't see!"

Still no response. The panic started to set in Lucy's mind.

 _Okay I'll just head back to where he turned around, he couldn't have moved that far away in 2 minutes._

Blind as a bat, Lucy took cautious steps towards where she thought she last saw Gray. When after 5 minutes, but felt like forever, Lucy didn't come across Gray or the others.

 _Fuck this is so scary. I wish I never had to pee_. Lucy thought to herself. _How am I supposed to climb this stupid mountain when I cannot even see which way is up, down or sideways! Ugh! I'm so stupid for having to pee._ Tears pricked at her eyes. She was frustrated and scared and she didn't know what time of day it was. Her body was searching for any signs of stimulation that was not the darkness, but she still found herself staring into the black void of nothingness.

Lucy sat on the ground. She figured it would be best for her to stop moving to give the others a chance to find her, although she just walked a while in a direction she didn't know. She felt so alone. There were no stars to comfort her, her friends were no where to be found and she couldn't see her keys so she couldn't summon a spirit to comfort her. A tear rolled down her cheek, eventually falling off her face. Her hair kept dragging across her face, and she was getting more annoyed by the second at having to constantly brush her blonde hair out of her eyes and mouth.

 _Wait. My hair is brushing against my face that means there must be a breeze; wind!_

"I found you wind!" Lucy said excitedly out into the blackness. Almost thanking her for realizing it's presence, the breeze started to pick up around her. _It's like it is pushing me in this vague direction_ Lucy felt the breeze getting stronger, almost mildly windy now, as if it was agreeing with the direction she was cautiously heading in.

After a while of only letting the wind navigate her, Lucy stumbled out of the darkness, and fell down a rocky edge.

When her eyes adjusted to the light, she couldn't believe her eyes. A huge magic circle glowing a menacing purple, laid in the middle of the summit.

Lucy approached the magic circle, feeling the wind pushing her toward it. She carefully stretched her hand out just into the circle when she felt vicious air slice her hand.

 _This magic circle has the wind trapped inside it._ Lucy realized. Taking a cautious step into the circle she said out loud to the wind, " I'm trying to help you, please don't rip me to shreds. I have befriended Earth, if that means anything to you."

The wind responded, and died down, allowing her to enter. When Lucy fully stepped into the circle, she knelt down and put her hands on the ground.

 _There is dark magic here. I can feel it in the ground._ Lucy thought. Focusing her mind on the magic energy around her, she looked toward the center of the circle. He eyes fell upon a woman, chained down in the center.

"Oh my GOD!" Lucy said, horrified that someone would do this.

 _Please, free me; I've been enslaved here for 400 years now and I spent my last strength leading you here._

"Right!" Lucy said and jumped into action. Running towards the woman she stood over top of her. Lucy took out her sword and in one fierce round slash, she broke the chains.

The woman stood up slowly, rubbing her wrists. She looked up towards the sky and jumped off the ground, flying with the wind around her. Lucy could hear in her mind the woman's joy as she was finally free.

Not wanting to lose too much focus, Lucy put her hand with the Agoroth on the ground and saw the rock that the magic circle was laying on top of.

 _So that's what happened; someone trapped the wind here with dark magic by anchoring it down to the earth._

Lucy then shut her eyes, and stuck her hand into the rock, closing her fist, thus crushing the magic circle.

The air element was free again, and in a windy fierceness the land hasn't seen in 400 years, it blew all the dark clouds away, revealing daylight to the mountain it hasn't seen in decades.

* * *

Wendy felt the familiar feeling of the wind brush her long hair against her face. She looked back toward the dark mountain and saw gold light shining off the top. She smiled. _They did it._


	11. Chapter 11

**_Hello! back with an update! I feel the story juices flowing. Enjoy!_**

 _Wendy felt the familiar feeling of the wind brush her long hair against her face. She looked back toward the dark mountain and saw gold light shining off the top. She smiled. They did it._

* * *

 **A couple hours before…**

"Okay Lucy it doesn't take a normal person that long to pee" Gray said slightly annoyed, but to his blooming frustration, Lucy didn't answer.

"Alright, I'll give you 30 more seconds and then I'm turning the light on you." He huffed. Gray hoped Lucy could hear the persistant tapping of his foot on the ground, showing how impatient he now was.

"Alright that's been long enough. I'm turning the light over to you, better put those panties back on" he mumbled and shone the light in the direct he turned from.

"Shit. Where did she go?" Gray said out loud.

"Where did who go?" Erza said, coming up behind Gray with the other flash light.

"Lucy. She had to pee and insisted privacy and now I can't find her with the light," Gray said to Erza, hoping her next move wasn't to lob off his head.

"Lucy! Where are you?!" Erza yelled into the darkness. Nothing followed.

"Hey what are you all screaming about?!" Natsu asked, rubbing his ears.

"Perfect! Just who we needed! Natsu, sniff out Lucy for us. She disappeared while going to the bathroom." Erza stated.

Natsu took a moment to sniff the air. " I can't smell her out; these clouds are too dense; it scatters any sent. It's actually been kind of nice not having to smell the popsicle over there." Natsu said, hinting at Gray. "I could expand my circle of fire; that may help locate her. More fire is more light for us."

"No dumbass, what if Lucy gets caught in your fire circle? Then we have a roasted blonde who will probably haunt us with her annoying screams the rest of our lives." Gray snapped back.

"No need to get your panties in a knot; it was just an idea Gray" Natsu hissed back.

"A dumb idea" Gray spat back.

"ENOUGH!" We have to focus on finding Lucy!" Erza yelled at the boys. "Our best bet at the moment is to stay put; Lucy is clearly wandering out there, and maybe she'll find her bearings and stumble upon us."

The boys agreed, and so the group sat on the ground, hoping Lucy would find them, but worry started to pick at Natsu's mind a while later. _What if she never finds us?_

"This is stupid. There's a small to nothing chance she'll stumble across our group here. I'm going to go look for her." Natsu hissed at Gray and Erza.

"Good, then I don't have to look at your stupid face any more" Gray said.

"Fine Natsu, you go look for Lucy. Take one of the lights so that you don't accidentally burn her with your flames." Erza said, handing Natsu a flash light.

Natsu grumbled, " How embarrassing, a fire mage being forced to use a flash light." And he took off into the darkness. It was then Gray realized he was alone with Erza, and suddenly he wished Natsu didn't leave.

* * *

A while later, the batteries in Natsu's flash light died and he was immediately surrounded by darkness.

 _Just fucking great. Now I'm just as lost as Lucy and I can't use my fire._

He felt strange a moment later. The constant scratching that was always at the back of his mind suddenly grew a lot stronger, to the point where Natsu could not ignore it anymore. He felt his tattoos burn, something grow out of his head. When he reached up to feel what happened to his head, he felt two horns.

After realizing the horns, his back then screamed in a burning agony, crushing Natsu to his knees. Then a familiar voice echoed in his mind.

 _Natsu…._

"Igneel?" Natsu whispered out into the darkness.

 _I don't have much time, the strength of my spirit is fading faster than I thought, and I haven't told you everything I need to._ Igneel's voice echoed in Natsu's mind, soothing the scratching he felt just moments before.

 _Those spells I taught you on your training mission all those years ago weren't dragon spells like I had said. They are demon spells or more accurately, demon curse magic._

'Why are you telling me this Igneel?' Natsu thought, almost not wanting to know the answer.

 _Natsu, please understand, some things I've told you when you were younger weren't all true. And I hid the truth from you to protect you. But now I find myself trapped in a corner and it has become clear to me hiding the truth from you any longer may be the end of you, my son._

'So what did you lie to me about dad?"

 _I didn't find you all those years ago. I altered your memories to make you believe I stumbled across you in the forest. The truth is Natsu, your family was killed in a dragon attack on your village about 400 years ago. You and your parents were killed, but your brother survived._

'That's ridiculous Dad, if I died, how come I am here breathing?'

 _Your brother brought you back from the dead, tying your soul to another. A demon. Your brother was consumed with darkness, and began practicing dark magic. In his dabbling in forbidden magic, bringing you back alive cost him his morality; He cannot die and thus has been walking the earth for centuries. He became a greatly feared and powerful wizard, and created a demon to take out a Celestial wizard named Zodiac. However, this demon was very powerful and Zeref quickly realized the demon could kill him. This demon went on to create other demons and started a dark guild that plagued the world. Seeing that his life was on the line, the dark wizard locked the demon away in the body of his deceased brother, bringing him back to life and binding the demon to the dark wizard through the family blood._

"I don't want to hear the end of this Igneel."

 _The dark wizard, the brother in this story is Zeref. The demon he created is END, and the human life he attached that demon to was yours Natsu._

Horror struck Natsu in the stomach.

"I did all those horrific things? I created the demons of Tartaros?" he felt nauseous.

 _Im sorry Natsu. I thought if I taught you demon curse magic, it would allow you to control END and keep that demon locked away forever. The reason I am telling you this now is that I'm afraid Zeref plans to extract END out of the shadows of your mind once again, and you need to be ready for it._

'This is too much for me to handle right now Igneel. I feel this scratch at the back of my mind every day and now I know why. I'm attached to END and I feel myself slipping, giving into the dark power' his features seemed to acknowledge the realization and Natsu yelped, the pain in his back increasing.

 _Be strong. You are the son of a Dragon. And not just any dragon, the Fire Dragon King. I wouldn't have taken you all those years ago if I sensed you were weak._

Pride filled Natsu, and the pain started to relax.

 _Think of the future Natsu, and know that I will always love you forever. Alas my time is ending and our conversations will end, but know that I will be watching you from outside of time, sharing in your sadness, anger and joy. I'm so proud of you Natsu._

Natsu felt tears streaming down his face as the sound of Igneel's voice faded away in the distance. The scratching intensified again. He was surrounded by darkness, and Natsu felt his thoughts darken. Clearly, this demon thrives in this dark place.

 _These clouds must be dark magic. I'm not going to last much longer if I stay here._ Natsu thought

 _….I will kill them all Natsu. I will make sure you witness their lives leaving their pathetic bodies as I murder them one by one…. Your strength can't touch my slumbering power. I will bask in the suffering I will once again inflict on this world…._

Natsu smiled at himself, _You forgot one thing, demon. I am the proud son of Igneel Dragneel; I have the heart and soul of a Dragon King, no, a Fire Dragon King, and I will destroy you before you hurt any of my family._

And as if on cue, light pierced the darkness, causing it to recede. _Lucy_ Natsu thought

 _I look forward to meeting this Lucy you hold so dear in person,_ END cooly mentioned before Natsu slammed END back into his subconscious prison. Immediately the pain disappeared along with the horns and the burning of his tattoos.

Adjusting his eyes to the light, Natsu headed towards the summit where there was no doubt in his mind Lucy was.

 _I'll die before I ever let you meet her._

* * *

Lucy watched at the wind woman danced around in the skies above the summit. _I guess I would do the same thing if I was imprisoned for 400 years._ Finally, the woman descended back down toward Lucy, the wind whisking her smoke like hair around her face.

Lucy gasped however, when she looked upon the woman's face and a sadness filled Lucy's heart.

"Why do you look like Aquarius?" Lucy slowly asked, still not believing what her eyes were looking at.

The Wind Woman's sharp eyes landed on Lucy. "You know Aquarius?" she asked

"Yes, she was one of my celestial spirits."

"Was?"

Lucy looked down to the ground, ashamed. " In a desperate attempt to save my friends captured by the demons of Tartaros, she told me to summon the Celestial King."

The stare on the Wind Woman's face intensified. Lucy continued, the sadness threatening to boil over, " I used her key to summon the Celestial King. That was five years ago, and I've been looking for her key ever since."

"Why so that you can just _use_ her again and again? You humans are all the same!" the woman hissed

Lucy looked up from the ground, rage filled her as did the fire in her eyes, " How dare you say that. Aquarius was my best friend, as all my spirits. She was a spirit of my late mother, passed down to me. She wasn't just a spirit. I hurt every day and cry every time I think of her." Lucy almost yelled back, tears now stinging her eyes.

"I loved her as all my spirits, with every fiber of my being." She said so quietly, it almost sounded like a breath.

Suddenly, Lucy felt a presence right in front of her, and found herself embraced in a hug. The Wind Woman was holding her, crying too.

After a grieving moment, they stepped away from each other. The Wind Woman looked at Lucy.

"I look like Aquarius because in a sense, I _am_ Aquarius." She replied, " I have much to share with you." And with that sentence, the wind woman pressed her thumb into Lucy's fore head and linked with her, to show Lucy her memories.


	12. Chapter 12

**The doc manager was being stupid so I had to update in two chapters (too many words maybe?) Enjoy the quickest update ever! :) Make sure you read chapter 11 first!**

* * *

When Lucy was able to focus again, she saw Wind Aquarius holding out her hand. "Come, I brought you into my mind to share with you my past."

When Lucy took her hand, she stepped into a whirl pool which appeared out of nowhere, and suddenly was looking out a set of eyes that weren't hers.

"I make thee out of air, water and the power of the stars, _Aquarius_ " Zodiac was suddenly standing in front of her. 'Her' being Aquarius, who Lucy was sitting in the subconscious mind of.

"I created you in the hopes of taming those other air and water spirits Aquarius." Zodiac laughed. "They are a bit dramatic."

"Well what did you expect Zodiac? You are creating living beings out of raw elements and the stars." She hissed back. Typical Aquarius.

Zodiac sent a teasing glance her way, " Well I hope you bring that same energy into dealing with your _friends._ "

Aquarius rolled her eyes. "Typical creator; makes things he cannot control. I'll see to it then"

In a flash, Lucy was in a different memory

"I've had enough of you all causing me too many headaches and because of this, I am revoking some of you power until you can prove you are mature enough to handle it!" Aquarius yelled at the air and water spirits. "You don't see the Earth signs, Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn needing a baby sitter." She hissed.

"Gemini, you and Libra need to stop torturing Pisces, Cancer, and Scorpio. They are _water_ signs and super emotional. And you three, need to stop mentally screwing with the other two." Aquarius said to the group of spirits in front of her, still rubbing her head. She hated dealing with their spats. " So I've decided to make you all miserable, until further notice."

After revoking a small fraction of their celestial powers, the spirits seemed to get along, probably because they were just forced to submit to Aquarius. With a small smile, Aquarius left the group of unhappy spirits. That was her plan all along; to unite them in disliking her.

After finally getting everyone on better terms with each other, Aquarius opened her gate into Earthland to her favorite spot of fresh water to unwind in. Surprisingly to Lucy, it was not a huge ocean she was expecting. It was a small intimate area of fresh water with a stunning water fall. When the moon hit the water, it looked like glass. It was breath taking.

Aquarius floated on the water's surface, looking up at the night sky. _Finally, some peace._ She thought. After all it had been a difficult, long time of arguing and scraps with the air and water spirits. It was nice they were getting along, to some extent. She fidgeted a small blue rock between her fingers. The smoothness of it helped her unwind. It used to be rough, but after all the time she spent stress rubbing it, it smoothed out into a comforting oval shape. Aquarius closed her eyes, allowing the moonlight to touch her.

"Such a majestic night. At first I thought I was incredibly lucky I had the luxury to gaze upon the night sky, but to stumble across a mermaid sharing in that experience is a once in a life time moment." Aquarius turned to where she heard the voice coming from.

A man with raven hair and white robes approached the water's edge. Insulted by being compared to a stupid mermaid, Aquarius sharply replied, " I am no lowly mermaid. You gaze upon a proud celestial spirit and remain lucky to be alive right now." She hissed at the man.

"My sincerest apologies. I was ignorant to what I was observing. Forgive me." He said, casting his eyes down, adding a small bow. Aquarius quite enjoyed the human's submission.

"You are forgiven for now, human." She replied coldly, slightly fascinated with the human. She had never interacted with one aside from Zodiac.

"I will take my leave. It was the honor of my life to meet you. If I may be so bold to ask your name, so I may speak of your mercy and beauty to everyone I meet?" the human asked.

"No, you may not. I'd rather not have people know I'm merciful." She replied with arrogance.

"Understood."

As the man turned to walk away, the celestial spirit felt a pang of curiosity run through her. "Tell me your name human, so that I know who to target when I require something to torture when I grow bored." She flatly stated.

The man smiled a toothy grin. "Zeref Dragneel" he said with a low bow.

The memory whirl pooled and Lucy found herself in another.

"This last decade has been the best of my life." The man said. Lucy saw Zeref sitting on a rock talking to Aquarius in the same spot as the previous memory. "Words cannot explain how I feel about meeting you all those years ago."

"I cannot believe I warmed up to someone as disguising as a human." Aquarius replied with her usual unimpressed tone, but now with a softness underlying it.

"I'm also curious why a celestial spirit like yourself spends so much time here on earth when you have the celestial realm all to yourself." Zeref asked.

Aquarius rolled her eyes. " If you had to interact with those spirits, you would understand. I played baby sitter for _years_ just to get some of the under control. They are an annoying bunch of spirits."

" I'm surprised. A proud spirit like yourself chooses the company of a human over her colleagues." He teased.

Aquarius straightened up in the water, " _colleagues_ is most incorrect. I govern those imbeciles." She spat.

"Oh did I poke at a sensitive issue?" Zeref teased back.

Aquarius looked at him sharply. "The only way I could get those spirits under control was to pluck some of their power away. Now they don't mess around, because I will end them with their own magic." She said, proudly.

"I didn't know such rifts existed between the spirits. Did you inherit a lot of power?" he inquired, stroking her ego.

"Enough power. It was the air and water signs they were causing a nuisance. You don't see the earth or fire signs causing drama." She said to herself, mumbling the last part, but still fell upon listening ears.

As the sun began to rise and invade the night sky, Aquarius knew it was almost time for her companion to leave as he usually did at sun rise.

"So I guess this is where we say goodbye and see you next time." She sarcastically pointed out.

"Why do you make it sound like you're going to miss me?" He said, teasingly.

Aquarius rolled her eyes and looked out on the water. "Maybe I will." She whispered.

"Why don't you come with me?" he asked.

"Where?"

"Well today I was going to travel to the mountain summit on the north side of this island. I want to continue my element collection." He said, tapping on the golden armlet on his forearm.

"You have a weird collection habit. What does that thing do anyway?" she spat, slightly jealous he chose that over her sometimes.

Zeref smiled. " It gives me the power to communicate with the elements. I can talk with them and convince them to help me with problems."

Aquarius laughed. "What human problems would the elements bend to?"

A darkness poked through Zeref's eyes she hadn't seen before. It disappeared instantly, but still sent a shiver down her spine. "Conflict" was all he said.

"Well you have peeked my interest, human. What element are we going to talk to today?"

A sinister smile grew across Zeref's face as he replied, " Air"

The memory whirl pooled again, and they were on top of the mountain Lucy had freed Wind Aquarius from.

"If I had known you could walk, I would have invited you here ages ago." Zeref smiled at Aquarius.

She shrugged. " My air elemental power grants me legs, but I prefer the water; it's easier to maneuver in. So when do we get to converse with the wind? We've reached the summit and nothing interesting has happened." Aquarius said, taking a slight jab at the human's odd antics.

Zeref turned towards her, a predatory gaze fell upon her. " This is the place rumored to be the birth place of where Zodiac created the air celestial spirits _._ The purest form of the air element."

Lucy felt Aquarius' blood run cold. "How do you know about Zodiac?" she hissed.

Zeref held up the armlet. " This is his other creation. I can submit earth to my will, and now I will use you to submit both Air and Water."

Aquarius turned to run, but not being quite used to legs, couldn't get away fast enough. She felt his dark magic around her, grating at her insides.

After what felt like a life time of pure agony, Aquarius found herself submitting to his overwhelming power. He peeled away the wind element within her, taking an exact form of herself.

Angry tears of betrayal filled her eyes as she witnessed her air spirit being chained down to the mountain Aquarius being powerless to do anything, especially now that her legs had been replaced with her tail as she only had the water element within her now. She could feel the pain her other half was in as Zeref attempted to force her to do his will.

Suddenly, a blinding light appeared, and Zodiac was in front of her along with the other celestial spirits.

"Scorpio, take Aquarius back to the celestial realm." He demanded.

Before all vanished, a dark laugh filled her ears,

"This is why _Pride_ is a sin" Zeref whispered, as if just for her ears to hear and she disappeared into the celestial realm.

Tears filled Lucy's eyes as she whirl pooled back into her own body.

"My pride was my downfall. I befriended someone who used me, and it cost me 400 years of imprisonment." Wind Aquarius looked away, tears stinging her eyes. "I need to be reunited with my other half. You will have my eternal gratitude, and I will assist in any and every way to destroy that _evilness_." She hissed the last part.

"I will make it my new mission to help you. But I don't know where Aqua- ugh your other half is. Zodiac told me she was in this world somewhere." Lucy said.

Wind Aquarius smiled and pulled out an oval blue rock out of herself. " Return this to the lake on the far south side of the island. My spirit will enter this rock; please give it to my other half when you find her." And with a small, hopeful smile, she faded into the rock Lucy now held.

Lucy held the stone in her hand and vowed to return it to its owner.

 _When Master severs skies from land_ _;_ _Where human touches Wind, will it be in their hand._


End file.
